Ramesh Kumar Agarwal vs State Of Uttarakhand & Others

Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J

According to petitioner, an industrial plot, bearing Plot No. B-9, was allotted to him in the Industrial Estate Rudrapur, District Udham Singh Nagar by the State Government. Municipal Corporation Rudrapur has issued a demand notice dated 04.08.2018 asking the petitioner to deposit a sum of Rs.1,07,949/-, as House Tax for the financial year 2014-15.

Feeling aggrieved by the said demand notice, petitioner has approached this Court seeking following relief:-

(i) Issue a writ of certiorari quashing the impugned notice dated 4.8.2018 passed by respondent no. 3 (Contained as Annexure No. 1 to this writ petition).

(ii) Issue a writ order or direction in the nature of mandamus commanding the respondents not to recover the property tax from the petitioner.

It is the contention of petitioner that since the industrial area, in which petitioner's plot is situate, has been declared as industrial area under provisions of U.P. Industrial Area Development Act, 1976, therefore, petitioner is not liable to pay any property tax to the Municipal Corporation. Learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance upon Sections 11 and 17 of the said Act. He further submits that U.P. Municipal Corporation (Property Taxes) Rules, 2000 have also not been followed for determining annual value of petitioner's property.

Per contra, Mr. Lalit Sharma, learned counsel for respondent no. 3 submits that Section 17 of the aforesaid Act does not prohibit the Municipal Corporation Rudrapur from recovering tax from a property situate within industrial area.

Without going into the merits of the rival contentions made by learned counsel for the parties, this Court thinks that ends of justice would be met if petitioner is permitted to file objection to the demand notice to the Municipal Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Rudrapur.

Accordingly, the writ petition is disposed of with liberty to the petitioner to file objection to the demand notice to the Municipal Commissioner, Municipal Corporation Rudrapur. If such objection is filed within two weeks from today, Municipal Commissioner shall look into the matter and pass appropriate order, in accordance with law, within eight weeks thereafter. For a period of ten weeks or till disposal of petitioner's objection, whichever is earlier, no recovery shall be made from the petitioner pursuant to the impugned demand notice dated 4.08.2018.