Property tax on underground telecom cables upheld as a levy on land use, not on cables themselves.

Property tax could validly be imposed on the occupation and use of land for laying underground telecommunication cables, even where the cable operator was not the landowner. The court treated the levy as falling within the municipal corporation's existing property tax power rather than as a separate tax on cables, and held that the Indian Telegraph Act did not exclude such municipal taxation. The objection based on non-compliance with procedure for new taxes also failed because the demand was issued under the property tax provisions already in force, and no illegality in the assessment process was shown. The demand notices were therefore upheld.

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Issues: Whether a cellular service provider is liable to pay property tax on underground cables laid for telecommunication services, and whether the municipal corporation could levy the tax under the municipal statute.

Analysis: The statutory scheme of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 permits a licencee to exercise telegraph authority powers, but that regime does not exclude municipal taxation where the levy is in substance on the use of land. The definition of "land" under the Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 was treated as materially similar to the corresponding definition considered in the Supreme Court's ruling on tax on mobile towers. On that basis, the levy was held to fall on the occupation and use of land for laying cables, not on the cable as a separate taxable subject. The Court further held that the challenge based on non-compliance with the procedure for new taxes failed because the levy was chargeable under the provisions governing property tax already within the municipal taxing power, and the assessment procedure adopted by the corporation was not shown to be illegal.

Conclusion: The petitioner was held liable to pay property tax for underground cables, and the levy and demand notices were upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: Property tax validly levied on the use of land for telecommunication infrastructure is chargeable from the occupier even when the occupier is not the owner, and the municipal taxing power is not defeated merely because the taxable incidence is described by reference to underground cables.

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