Mehar Hotels P. Ltd. vs State of Tamil Nadu and The Commissioner, Madurai Corporation

P. Jyothimani, J.—The issue involved in this case relates to the imposition of Property Tax by the Corporation.

The case of the Petitioner is that Property Tax has been enhanced originally to 150% and after representations made by various individuals, it was reduced to 100%. Admittedly, consequent to the said general revision of the Property Tax, the present impugned attachment notice has been issued under the Revenue Recovery Act.

Even though it is stated that the Petitioner has complied with the conditional order, the Writ Petition as such is not maintainable for the reasons that as against the order of attachment, the Petitioner got an adequate remedy available under the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act. That has also been the consistent view of this Court as held in Razeena Begum and Anr. v. Pudukottai Municipality and Anr. reported in (2008 W L.R.804), wherein, I had an occasion to decide about the Municipalities Act relating to a similar provision and that was also the view held by the Division Bench of this Court in M.L. Krishnamoorthy (died) and M.K. Sathyamurthy Vs. The Government of Tamilnadu and The Gudiyattam Municipality, wherein, by referring to Section 89 of the Tamil Nadu District Municipalities Act, the Division Bench has held that in the presence of an adequate alternative remedy available against the imposition of such Tax, the Writ Petition is not maintainable.

In such view of the matter, leaving it open to the Petitioner to workout his remedy in the manner known to law by filing an appeal under the provision of the said Act, the Writ Petition stands dismissed. However, there shall be no order as to costs. Consequently, the connected miscellaneous petition also stands dismissed.

If the Petitioner decided to file an appeal in the manner known to law, the appellate authority shall receive the said appeal and decide the same on merits and in accordance with law, within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the appeal, without rejecting the appeal on the ground of limitation.