AI OCR 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1966 (2) TMI 75
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....directing that S. N. Sarkar, Assistant Special Officer of the Patna City Municipality, shall also exercise and perform the powers and duties which might be exercised and performed by the Commissioners under s. 107, among other sections, of the Act. On November 21, 1949, the Government of Bihar issued another Notification directing that each of the three officers mentioned therein shall exercise and perform the powers and duties conferred and imposed on a Committee constituted under s. 117 of the Act. One of the said officers was the said S. N. Sarkar, who was also appointed under the earlier Notification dated March 29, 1946, to perform the duties and exercise the powers of the Commissioners. During the periodical revisional assessment of the year 1950 in regard to the said premises, the valuation thereof was fixed at Rs. 1,800/- and its quarterly municipal taxes at Rs. 146-4-0; but as some additions were made to the said premises, on May 10, 1951, the valuation of the said premise$ was raised to Rs. 2,400/. and its quarterly municipal taxes were fixed at Rs. 195/-. On November 17, 1951, S. N. Sarkar, the Assistant Special Officer of the Municipality, issued a notice to the owner ....
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....al by special leave against the judgment and decree of the High Court. Mr. Ramanugrah, learned counsel for the appellant, argued that the High Court on a wrong construction of the relevant provisions of the Act held that s. 117(i) of the Act had become unworkable and that no committee thereunder could be constituted after the supersession of the Municipality. He further contended that the High Court had thrown the burden of proof wrongly on the appellant but it should have held that it was for the Municipality to establish that there was a mistake, fraud or misrepresentation in making the periodical revisional assessment and that, as there was no material placed by the Municipality before the Court, it should have held that the condition precedent for reopening the earlier assessment had not been fulfilled. Mr. S. P. Varma, learned counsel for the respondents, in addition to the contentions accepted by the High Court, sought to take a preliminary objection that the suit was not maintainable. As this question was not raised in any of the Courts below, we did. not permit him to do so. The first contention turns upon the construction of the relevant-. provisions of the Act and the N....
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....issioners and two tax-payers of the municipality, nominated or elected in the prescribed manner by the Commissioners at a meeting and one servant of the Government not below the rank of a Deputy Magistrate nominated by the District Magistrate in this behalf, provided that no Commissioner or tax-payer shall be a member of the Committee appointed to hear applications from the ward for which he was elected and that three members shall form the quorum. The effect of the relevant provisions in the context of the facts of the case may be stated thus : Where an order superseding a municipality has been passed by the Government, all the Commissioners of the Municipality shall vacate their offices and their powers and duties, whether at a meeting or otherwise, shall be exercised and performed by such person or persons as the State Government may direct. The State Government accordingly issued two Notifications whereunder S. N. Sarkar, Assistant Special Officer of the Patna City Municipality, was appointed to exercise and perform the powers and duties under s. 107 of the Act, among .,others, and each one of the three persons mentioned in the Notification dated November 21, 1949, to exercise....
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....sections of the Act. So too, in section 117(1) of the Act, which would ran thus: "Every application presented under the last preceding section relating to assessment made under.......... s. 117 .......... shall be heard and determined by a Committee consisting of the person or persons appointed by the Government and two tax-payers of the Municipality nominated by the said person or persons and one servant of the Government not below the rank of a Deputy Magistrate nominated by the District Magistrate in this behalf, provided that no person or persons nominated or tax-payer shall be a member of the Committee appointed to hear applications from the ward for which he was elected and that three members shall form the quorum." If that be the effect of s. 386 on s. 117,the Committee under s. 117 could have been constituted with one or more of the three, persons nominated by the Government under s. 386(1)(b) of the, Act and two tax-payers nominated by them and a Deputy Magistrate nominated by the Government. This construction will give full effect to s. 117 of the Act, whereas the construction suggested by the learn....