TMI Blog2007 (7) TMI 629X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ts herein are the owners of a property bearing No.1/2 of 1 (1 3) Part, Ram Kishore Road, Civil Lines, Delhi, which was proposed to be assessed for property taxes by the competent authority of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, a notice wherefor was issued in March 1997 purported to be under Section 126 of the Act to fix the rateable value thereof at ₹ 50,00,000/- with effect from 01.04.1996. Respondents herein objected to the said proposal. They filed various documents in support of their case stating that the property in question had jointly been purchased by Anil Gupta, Qimat Rai Gupta and Vinod Gupta by four separate deeds of sale for a total consideration of ₹ 32,00,000/-. The market value of the land was assessed by the assessee at ₹ 89,93,100/- comprising of the value of the land at ₹ 42,19,000/- and cost of construction at ₹ 51,00,000/-. The said market value disclosed by the assessee was not accepted by the assessing authority. The assessing officer upon hearing the respondents assessed the value at ₹ 1,40,90,100/- and determined the rateable value therefor at ₹ 11,97,660/- with effect from 01.04.1996. Aggrieved by and dissatisfied wit ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the order of assessment was signed on 15.03.1999 and the same was diarized in the despatch register on 31.03.1999. 8. The said Act was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to the Municipal Government of Delhi. Chapter VIII of the said Act provides for taxation. Levy of property taxes is envisaged under sub-section (1) of Section 113 of the Act. Section 114 provides for the components of property tax. Section 114A provides for building tax. Section 114C provides for vacant land tax. Section 123A provides for submission of returns. Section 123B provides for self-assessment and submission of return. 9. Appellant has, thus, a statutory power to impose property tax. Section 124 of the Act provided for assessment list, sub-section (1) whereof reads as under : (1) Save as otherwise provided in this Act, the Corporation shall cause an assessment list of all lands and buildings in Delhi to be prepared in such form and manner and containing such particulars with respect to each land and building as may be prescribed by bye- laws. 10. Section 126 of the Act empowers the Commissioner to amend the assessment list in terms of one or the other modes provided for there ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and K. Bhaskaran v. Sankaran Vaidhyan Balan and Another [(1999) 7 SCC 510]. 14. Commissioner in terms of the provisions of the said Act exercises a statutory power. A proceeding initiated for the purpose of amending the assessment list is a quasi judicial one. Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation is a statutory authority. The terms and conditions of his appointment are governed by Section 54 of the Act. He can be appointed only by the Central Government. The power of amendment can be exercised at any time, as would appear from sub-section (1) of Section 126 of the Act; the only limitation therefor being that a fresh order would not relate back to the end of the financial year in which the notice is issued. 15. Indisputably, the Parliament did not intend to confer unbriddled power on the Commissioner to amend the assessment list. For that purpose only a period within which the jurisdiction is to be exercised was contemplated, namely, before the expiry of three years from the end of the year in which the notice is given, but the same would not mean that the restriction imposed should be given a restricted meaning so as to narrow down the scope thereof any further. 16. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d at the Bar. 22. In Surendra Singh (supra), a three-Judge Bench of this Court while considering the provisions of Section 369 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 opining that a judgment being a declaration of the mind of the court as it is at the time of pronouncement, made a distinction between a civil case and a criminal case, stating : 10. In our opinion, a judgment within the meaning of these sections is the final decision of the court intimated to the parties and to the world at large by formal pronouncement or delivery in open court. It is a judicial act which must be performed in a judicial way. Small irregularities in the manner of pronouncement or the mode of delivery do not matter but the substance of the thing must be there : that can neither be blurred nor left to inference and conjecture nor can it be vague. All the rest - the manner in which it is to be recorded, the way in which it is to be authenticated, the signing and the sealing, all the rules designed to secure certainty about its content and matter - can be cured; but not the hard core, namely the formal intimation of the decision and its contents formally declared in a judicial way in open cour ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ized that provisions relating to giving of notice often receive liberal interpretation, (vide page 99 of the 12th edn.) The context envisaged in Section 138 of the Act invites a liberal interpretation for the person who has the statutory obligation to give notice because he is presumed to be the loser in the transaction and it is for his interest the very provision is made by the legislature. The words in Clause (b) of the proviso to Section 138 of the Act show that payee has the statutory obligation to 'make a demand' by giving notice. The thrust in the clause is on the need to 'make a demand'. It is only the mode for making such demand which the legislature has prescribed. A payee can send the notice for doing his part for giving the notice. Once it is despatched his part is over and the next depends on what the sendee does. [See C.C. Alavi Haji v. Palapetty Muhammed Anr. 2007 (7) SCALE 380] 26. The question, however, in our opinion, stands concluded by a three- Judge Bench of this Court in M/s M.M. Rubber and Co., Tamil Nadu (supra), wherein Ramaswami, J. speaking for the Bench succinctly stated the law thus : 12. It may be seen therefore, that, i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... an order placing a Government servant on suspension does not require communication of that order. [See State of Punjab v. Khemi Ram - AIR 1970 SC 214]. What is, therefore, necessary to be borne in mind is the knowledge leading to the making of the order. An order ordinarily would be presumed to have been made when it is signed. Once it is signed and an entry in that regard is made in the requisite register kept and maintained in terms of the provisions of a statute, the same cannot be changed or altered. It, subject to the other provisions contained in the Act, attains finality. Where, however, communication of an order is a necessary ingredient for bringing an end-result to a status or to provide a person an opportunity to take recourse of law if he is aggrieved thereby; the order is required to be communicated. 29. The Division Bench of the High Court, in our opinion, proceeded on a wrong premise insofar as it misconstrued and misinterpreted the word 'made' in the context of sub-section (4) of Section 126 of the Act opining that the power can be misused by the Commissioner. The Division Bench, with respect, failed to notice that there exists a presumption that the offi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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