Separate assessment of independent flats under property tax law prevails over a circular grouping them by floor.

Independent flats in a multi-storied building are treated as separate assessable units for land and building tax where the statute contemplates assessment of a building or part thereof as distinct occupation units. The Rajasthan High Court reasoned that a flat is a separately identifiable place of occupation with no functional nexus to adjoining flats, and that the scheme of the Act and earlier circulars supported separate assessment. A circular directing that flats on each floor be treated as one unit was held inconsistent with the Act and incapable of overriding the statutory scheme.

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Issues: (i) Whether independent flats in a multi-storied building are to be assessed as one unit or separate units for the purpose of land and building tax; (ii) Whether the circular directing that flats on each floor be treated as one unit is legal.

Issue (i): Whether independent flats in a multi-storied building are to be assessed as one unit or separate units for the purpose of land and building tax.

Analysis: The levy under the Rajasthan Lands & Buildings Tax Act, 1964 is a tax on land or building as a unit, and the definitions of "building", "owner" and "occupier" show that the Act contemplates assessment of a building or part thereof as separately identifiable units. The expression "building" is inclusive and, in the statutory setting, a flat in a multi-storied structure is a separate place of occupation and habitation with no functional nexus with the flat above, below or adjacent to it. The scheme of the Act, the earlier departmental circulars, and the principle that taxation under Entry 49 of List-II is on property as a unit support separate treatment of each flat.

Conclusion: Independent flats in a multi-storied building are to be assessed as separate units, not as one composite unit.

Issue (ii): Whether the circular directing that flats on each floor be treated as one unit is legal.

Analysis: A circular cannot override the statutory scheme. Since the Act treats each flat as a separate building or unit for assessment purposes, a direction requiring flats on a floor to be aggregated into one unit is inconsistent with the Act. The later circular therefore could not alter the legal position governing assessment.

Conclusion: The circular was not legal and could not govern assessment in a manner contrary to the Act.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition failed and the Tribunal's view that each flat must be assessed separately was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Under a taxing statute levying property tax on land or building as a unit, an individually occupied flat in a multi-storied structure constitutes a separate assessable unit where the statutory definitions and scheme indicate separate treatment of distinct portions of the building.

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