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2019 (8) TMI 864 - SC - Indian LawsMaintainability of suit - Jurisdiction - civil suit filed before the High Court of Delhi - demand for payment of property tax - Whether a civil suit is maintainable in disputes pertaining to payment of tax under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957? HELD THAT:- Section 9 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 confers jurisdiction on the Civil Courts to try all suits, excepting those which are either expressly or impliedly barred. Chapter VIII of the Act deals with levy of taxes that can be imposed by the Corporation. Property tax is dealt with in Sections 114 to Section 135 of the Act - There is an inherent right to approach a civil court. The bar on a civil court’s jurisdiction is not to be readily or lightly inferred. The jurisdiction of civil courts can be excluded by an express provision of law or a clear intendment in such law. Section 17 of the Madhya Bharat Sales Tax Act, 1950 barred the jurisdiction of any court in matters pertaining to assessments made under the Act. The recovery of Sales Tax under the said Act was the subject matter of civil suits filed by the asessees. The State objected to the maintainability of the civil suits on the ground that jurisdiction of civil court was barred - A perusal of the relevant provisions of the Act would show that there is no express bar on the jurisdiction of Courts. However, Section 169 of the Act provides for an appeal to the Municipal Taxation Tribunal. Section 171 of the Act provides that the order of the Municipal Taxation Tribunal in the appeal filed by the Assessee shall be final. According to the Corporation, the aforementioned Sections, read together, create a bar on the jurisdiction of civil courts. Resolving the dispute about the maintainability of a civil suit against the order passed by the revisional authority, this Court held that the suit was not maintainable. In the said case, the submission on behalf of the Assessee was that the right to second appeal to the District Court as per the provisions of the Act was coupled with an onerous condition i.e. deposit of the entire amount of property tax. Hence, it was pleaded that the remedy provided under the Act was not adequate. This Court rejected the said submission by holding that the alternate remedy provided by a statute not being an adequate or efficacious remedy, is not a ground for maintaining a civil suit. However, this Court was of the opinion that a Writ Petition under Article 226 is maintainable if the remedy provided in the statute is not efficacious. There is also no pleading with regard to non-compliance of any fundamental provisions of the statute. It is settled law that jurisdiction of the civil courts cannot be completely taken away in spite of either an express or implied bar. The civil courts shall have jurisdiction to examine a matter in which there is an allegation of non-compliance of the provisions of the statute or any of the fundamental principles of judicial procedure. A plain reading of the plaint would suggest that the order impugned in the suit is at the most an erroneous order. No jurisdictional error is pleaded in the plaint - the question of maintainability of the suit does not arise. In the absence of any pleadings in the plaint, the High Court ought not to have remanded the matter back to the learned Single Judge - Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.
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