Agricultural land under municipal tax law includes casuarina plantations, making non-agricultural assessment unsustainable.

The meaning of "agriculture" under the Madras District Municipalities Act is determined from the statutory context and the taxing scheme, not a narrow notion limited to tillage or food crops. The Act distinguishes land used exclusively for agricultural purposes from land used for non-agricultural purposes, and this supports a broader reading covering land cultivated or used for an agricultural purpose. On that approach, a casuarina plantation is treated like other groves or plantations of useful trees. Land covered by a casuarina plantation is therefore agricultural land for property tax assessment, and assessment under the non-agricultural provision was unsustainable.

---

---

Issues: Whether land covered by a casuarina plantation is agricultural land for the purpose of assessment to property tax under the Madras District Municipalities Act.

Analysis: The relevant provisions of the Act distinguish between different classes of assessable land, including land used exclusively for agricultural purposes and land not so used. The word "agriculture" is not defined in the Act, and its meaning must therefore be gathered from the context and the purpose of the taxing scheme. Read as a whole, the statutory provisions show that the expression is not confined to the narrow sense of tillage for food crops, but is used to identify land cultivated or used for an agricultural purpose as distinct from land used for non-agricultural purposes. A casuarina tope is not materially different, for this purpose, from other groves or plantations of useful trees.

Conclusion: Land covered by a casuarina plantation is agricultural land within the meaning of the Act, and the assessment under the non-agricultural provision was unsustainable.

---