Advertisement tax demands after withdrawal of statutory power are unlawful, with post-cut-off recovery held without jurisdiction.

Advertisement tax could not be levied or recovered after the statutory provision authorising it was deleted from 1.7.2017 and the corresponding legislative competence was curtailed. As taxation requires authority of law under Article 265, and no fresh rule or bye-law restored the power, the municipal authority lacked jurisdiction to raise demand for the post-cut-off period. The notices were therefore illegal and without jurisdiction, and any amount collected for that period was refundable.

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Issues: Whether advertisement tax could be levied and recovered by the municipal authority after the statutory power to levy such tax had been deleted and the corresponding legislative competence had ceased.

Analysis: The levy of tax must rest on authority of law under Article 265 of the Constitution of India. The provision enabling advertisement tax under the Municipal Corporation Act stood deleted with effect from 1.7.2017 by the U.P. Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, and the State's competence to legislate on advertisement tax under Entry 55 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India also stood curtailed by the constitutional amendment. In the absence of any fresh rule or bye-law authorising such levy, the municipal authority had no surviving power or jurisdiction to impose or recover advertisement tax for the period after the cut-off date.

Conclusion: The demand and recovery of advertisement tax for the period after 1.7.2017 were illegal and without jurisdiction, and the impugned notices were liable to be quashed with refund of any amount collected for that period.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded, and the municipal corporation was held disentitled from realising advertisement tax after 1.7.2017.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal tax cannot be levied or recovered after the statutory source of power and corresponding legislative competence have been withdrawn, because taxation is permissible only by authority of law.

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