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Judgment
Mullick, J.—The appellant holds four plots of land in the Dumraon Municipality. Plot No. 7 is his ancestral property and Plot No. 8 was purchased in the name of his son; again Plot No. 49 is his ancestral property and Plot No. 50 his been acquired by purchase. The Dumraon Municipality have assessed the appellant with personal tax on the footing that he is the occupier of four holdings. He contends that Plots Nos. 7 and 8 form one holding and Plots Nos. 49 and 50 one holding and that he is liable to assessment only in respect of two holdings. He has been assessed Rs. 84 on each of the Plots Nos. 7 and 8 and Rs. 28 on each of the Plots Nos. 49 and 50. He claims that he is liable to pay Rs. 84 on Plot Nos. 7 and 8 and Rs. 28 on Plots Nos. 49 and 50.
The question is whether Plots Nos. 7 and 8 constitute one holding within the meaning of Section 6(3) of the Bengal Municipal Act. It is clear that the plots being adjacent are bounded by one set of boundaries. The only question is whether they are held under one title. The appellant''s interest is ownership. It makes no difference that he has acquired it in respect of one plot by survivorship and the other by purchase. There is no reason why we should read the word "title" in Section 6 as "title-deed." The provision that the land shall be held under one title or under one agreement means that where the assessee has no title but holds under an agreement without any interest in the land, then all plots covered within the same set of boundaries and by the same agreement will form one holding. The proviso in the Explanation to Section 6(3) is not relevant to the discussion now before us.
In my opinion Plots Nos. 7 and 8 form one holding and the appellant is liable only to one assessment in respect of it u/s 85-A of the Act. The same observation applies to Plots Nos. 49 and 50.
The result is that the appeal succeeds and is decreed with costs in all Courts in proportion to a claim of Rs. 122.
Ross, J.
I agree.