TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1999 (10) TMI 125
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.... 1961) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') by the Municipal Council, Raigarh, respondent no.2 herein. The Municipality purporting to invoke the proviso to the section 127-A(2) of the Act aggregated the annual letting value of all the buildings and levied property tax on the deemed annual letting value so aggregated. The assessment order was followed by the demand notice. Feeling aggrieved by the levy and collection of property tax in the manner aforementioned, the appellant and respondents 4 to 7 preferred appeal under Section 139 of the Act before the Civil Judge Class-II, Raigarh. The appellate authority allowed the appeal and quashed the assessment order and the demand notice. On a revision petition being filed by the Municipality the District Judge, Raigarh allowed the revision, set aside the order of the appellate authority and confirmed the order of assessment made by the concerned authority. The appellant and the respondents 4 to 7 filed the Writ Petition in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh challenging the order of assessment, inter alia, on the grounds that it was not in conformity with the provisions of the Act. They also challenged the constitutiona....
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....statutory provisions before proceeding to consider the merits of the case. S.126 Definition of annual letting value - In this Chapter, the expression "annual letting value" shall mean: (i) where any building or land is let out, the annual rent for which it is actually let out; (ii) where the rent of any building has been determined under the Madhya Pradesh Accommodation Control Act, 1955 (23 of 1955), the annual rent as so determined; and (iii) in any other case, the annual rent for which any building or land exclusive of furniture or machinery contained or situated therein or thereon, might reasonably be expected to let from year to year, and shall include any payment made or agreed to be made by a tenant to the owner of the building or land on account of occupation taxes, insurance or other charges incidental to the tenancy; Provided that if it appears to the Council that the annual rent of any building or land is much lower than the annual rent for which it might reasonably be expected to let at the time of assessment, such letter rent shall be deemed to be the annual letting value in respect of such building or land." ....
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....lear that the incidence of the tax is the house, building or land situated within the limits of the municipality. The tax is to be paid by the owner(s) of the house, building or land. The amount of tax to be paid by the owner(s) is to be determined with reference to the annual letting value of the house, building or land in question. The manner of determination of the annual letting value is prescribed in section 126 of the Act. The Table in Section 127, which provides for the rate at which the tax is to be levied, starts with property the annual letting value of which exceeds Rs. 1,800 per annum but does not exceed Rs. 6,000, and in such a case the tax is to be levied at 6 per centum of the annual letting value. As the annual letting value of the property escalates the rate of tax increases. The very fact that no rate of tax is prescribed in the Table for a property the annual letting value of which is less than Rs. 1800 clearly indicates the intention of the Legislature not to levy the tax on such properties. This position is further clarified in clause (b) of subsection (1) of Section 127 in which it is laid down that house, building and lands annual letting value of which does ....
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....biguously convey the three components of the tax law i.e., the subject of the tax, the person who is liable to pay the tax and the rate at which the tax is to be paid. If there is any ambiguity regarding any of these ingredients in a taxation statute then there is no tax in law. Then it is for the legislature to do the needful in the matter. In the case of Bank of Chettinad Ltd. v. Commissioner of Income-tax, Madras, the Privy Council quoted with approval the following passage from the opinion of Lord Russel of Killowen in Inland Revenue Commissioners v. Duke of Westminster, (1936) A.C. 1: "I confess that I view with disfavour the doctrine that in taxation cases the subject is to be taxed if in accordance with a Court's view of what it considers the substance of the transaction, the Court thinks that the case falls within the contemplation or spirit of the statute. The subject is not taxable by inference or by analogy, but only by the plain words of a statute applicable to the facts and circumstances of his case. As Lord Cairns said many years ago in (1869) 4 H L 100(2) at p. 122: "As 1 understand the principle of all fiscal legislation it is this" If the person....