TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2002 (5) TMI 895
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....laintiff, in brief, is that premises No. 15/299 is a Shopping Plaza having 97 shops attached to Hotel Landmark. The shops were assessed to house tax by the Nagar Nigam, Kanpur (defendant No. 2) which was challenged by the plaintiff by filing 97 appeals. The Judge, Small Causes Court, Kanpur Nagar allowed the appeals by the judgment and order dated 24.3.1995 and quashed the assessment with the observation that the same may be done in accordance with Section 174(a) of U.P. Municipal Corporation Adhiniyam, 1959 (hereinafter referred to as the Adhiniyam). The defendant No. 2 filed a single appeal against the aforesaid Judgment before the District Judge, Kanpur Nagar being Appeal No. 13 of 1995, which is still pending. The Nagar Nigam has not determined the annual value of the premises in accordance with Section 174(a) of the Adhiniyam but is issuing bills for house tax. The Kanpur Jal Sansthan defendant No. 1 has not made any assessment in accordance with Section 53 of U. P. Water Supply and Sewerage Act, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as W.S.S. Act). However, it issued bill dated 15.11.2000 for Rs. 21,88,377 towards water tax and sewerage tax for premises No. 15/299 (97 shops). Accordi....
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.... K. Shukla, learned counsel for the defendant-respondents has, on the other hand, submitted that against the decision of the Judge, Small Causes Court, the defendant No. 2 had preferred an appeal before the District Judge under Section 476 of the Adhiniyam which was still pending and, therefore, it was wrong to contend that the assessment made by the Nagar Nigam stood wiped out. The Nagar Nigam was, therefore, entitled to levy house tax upon 97 shops in the premises in dispute, which are owned by the plaintiff. Sri Shukla has further contended that where no assessment had been made by Jal Sansthan, it is entitled to raise demand for water tax and sewerage tax on the basis of the assessment of annual value done by the Nagar Nigam in accordance with Sub-section (4) of Section 53 of the W.S.S. Act. It has also been urged that the demand raised being for various kinds of taxes which is a quantified amount, there is absolutely no occasion for grant of an injunction order in favour of the plaintiff as it would not suffer any irreparable injury in the event of the refusal of the injunction order and the balance of convenience also lay in favour of the defendants which are public bodies wo....
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.... (4) of Section 53 of W.S.S. Act provides that until assessment of the annual value of premises in any local area is made by Jal Sansthan, the annual value of all the premises in that local area, as assessed by the local body concerned for the purposes of house tax, shall be deemed to be the annual value of the premises for the purposes of this Act as well. Therefore, in a case where the Jal Sansthan has not made any assessment, the annual value of the premises shall be deemed to be the same as assessed by the local body concerned which in the present case would mean Nagar Nigam, Since the Jal Sansthan has not made any independent assessment of the annual value of the property, it is entitled to proceed on the basis of the assessment made by the Nagar Nigam. There is no dispute that the Nagar Nigam, Kanpur Nagar has made assessment of the annual value of the premises in question. Therefore, the contention of the learned counsel for the plaintiff-appellant that the Jal Sansthan having not made any assessment, it cannot levy any tax, has no substance and has to be rejected. 7. Sri M.K. Shukla has referred to certain statutory provisions, which according to him, create a bar in cha....
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....e excluded if there is adequate remedy to do that the civil courts would normally do in a suit. Such provision, however, does not exclude those cases where the provisions of the particular Act have not been complied with or the statutory tribunal has not acted in conformity with the fundamental principle of judicial procedure. ..... Sub-para (6).-Questions of the correctness of the assessment apart from Its constitutionality are for the decision of the authorities and a civil suit does not lie if the orders of the authorities are declared to be final or there is an express prohibition in the particular Act. In either case the Scheme of the particular Act must be examined because it is a relevant enquiry." 11. The heading of Section 226 of the Adhiniyam is 'Bar to jurisdiction of civil and criminal courts in matters of taxation'. This section creates a bar in challenging the valuation and assessment or liability of a person to be assessed or taxed in any other manner or before any other authority than is provided by the Adhiniyam. 12. The law declared by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Dhule Bhai's case (supra), shows that if the statute gives fi....