TMI Blog1983 (5) TMI 262X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to 1413/7O arise from a decision of the Division Bench of the same High Court in a group of writ petitions by which the High Court quashed the demand of Non-Agricultural assessment on the ground that Rule 81 of the Bombay Land Revenue Rules as amended on March 27, 1958 was unconstitutional being violative of Article 14 and hence void. 3. Appellants in both the groups are the State of Mysore and some officers. Respondents are the original petitioners in both the groups. 4. Rule 71 of the Hyderabad Land Revenue Rules and Rule 81 of the Bombay Land Revenue Rules were amended in an identical manner but on two different dates and the validity of each amendment rule was questioned on identical grounds and more or less the High Court for identical reasons quashed both the Rules as amended and almost identical grounds were canvassed in support of rival contentions before us and therefore, all these appeals are disposed of by this common judgment. 5. The boundaries of old Mysore State underwent a change consequent upon the Reorganisation of States in 1956. Some portion of former Bombay State as well as some portion of the old Hyderabad State were allocated to Mysore State. This his ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d, 5,000 the rate of Non-Agricultural assessment leviable shall be not less than the Agricultural assessment leviable on such land and not more than ₹ 40 per acre. (b) in the case of land situated in any village or town other than a town coming under Clause (c) of this rule, the population of which exceeds 5,000/- the rate of Non-Agricultural assessment leviable shall be not less than ₹ 40/- per acre and not more, than ₹ 80/- per acre. (c) in the case of land situated in any City or Town referred to in the Table to Rule 100, the rate of Non-Agricultural assessment leviable shall be not less than ₹ 150/- per acre and not more than ₹ 250/- per acre. (d) Non-Agricultural assessment will be levied at uniform rates for the entire extent converted for non-agricultural purposes, irrespective of the extent actually built upon. The same contention which was advanced in the former group of petitions was repeated in this group of petitions. 6. Validity of both the Rules was questioned on other diverse grounds but except the one herein mentioned, other contentions did not find favour with the High Court and therefore, they need not be recapi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd especially in the case of use of land for purposes other than agriculture, the N. A. assessment would be assessed keeping in view the use to which the land is put and the profit or advantage derived from such use of the land. Chapt. VII contains provisions of survey and settlement of land which would include assessment in respect of each survey, piece and parcel of land. Section 84 provides for announcement of the assessment and the manner in which it is made and the announcement should include the assessment fixed in respect of each plot of land called survey number. Chapter IX makes provision for responsibility of payment of revenue and the method of its recovery and the priority of payment in respect of land revenue. Chapter X deals with the procedure prescribed for revenue officers in dealing with cases under the Land Revenue Act. Chapter XI provides for appeal, review and revision of the orders of revenue officers. Section 172 confers power on the Government to make rules by publication in the Jarida (presumably Official Gazette) consistent with the provisions of the Act to carry out the purpose and objects of the Act and for the guidance of all persons in matters connected ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y, there is a sufficiently definite standard for the rule against the delegation of legislative power, and also for equality if the standard is reasonable. If no standard is set up, to avoid the violation of equality, those exercising the power must act as though they were administering a valid standard. 12. In Kunnathat Thathunni Moopil Nair v. State of Kerala, (1961) 3 SCR 77, a Constitution Bench of this Court struck down the Travancore-Cochin Land Tax Act, 1955 as being violative of Article 14 on the ground that unequals were treated equally. By the impugned Act all lands in the State of whatever description and held under whatever tenure were to be charged and levied a uniform rate of tax to be called the basic tax. This Court held that the Act obliged every person who held land to pay the tax at the flat rate prescribed, whether or not he made any income out of the property, or whether or not the property was capable of yielding any income. Consequently, the Court held there was no attempt at classification in the provisions of the Act and it was one of those cases where the lack of classification created inequality. In reaching this conclusion, Sinha, C. J. speaking for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bserve law to determine the annual rental value of each building and land comprised in each of the Textile factories. We fail to see how this decision would be of any use because there is no flat rate levy here and the Non-Agricultural assessment has to be levied in respect of each plot of land keeping in view its location, use and the profit derived by the use of the land. 15. Reference was next made to State of Andhra Pradesh v. Nalla Raja Reddy, (1967) 3 SCR 28, Affirming the decision of the Andhra High Court which declared Andhra Pradesh Land Revenue (Additional Assessment and Cess Revision) Act, 1962 as unconstitutional, the Court held that the classification based on ayacuts has no reasonable relation to the duration of water supply or to the quality or the productivity of the soil and that Sections 3 and 4 fixing the minimum flat rate for dry or waste land as the case may be, have ignored the well-established tarams principle and therefore, the classification attempted in their case has no reasonable relation to the objects sought to be achieved, namely, imposition of fair assessment and rationalisation of revenue assessment structure. Again we fail to see how the decisio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Constitution. Pertinent observation may be extracted : The Law-making is not a turnkey project ready-made in all detail and once this situation is grasped the dynamics of delegation easily follow. Thus, we reach the second constitutional rule that the essential of legislative functions shall not be delegated but the inessentials however numerous and significant they be may well be made over to appropriate agencies. Of course, every delegate is subject to the authority and control of the principal and exercise of delegated power can always be directed, corrected or cancelled by the principal. Therefore, the third principle that emerges is that even if there be delegation, parliamentary control over delegated legislation should be a living continuity as a constitutional necessity. Within these triple principles, Operation Delegation is at once expedient, exigent and even essential if the legislative process is not to get stuck up or bogged down or come to a grinding halt with a few complicated bills. Thus it is crystal clear that the legislature can delegate details to be worked out by the delegate and the details may be numerous and significant yet they may well be mad ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd revenue is a tax and the validity of the taxing statute has to be determined keeping in view the fact that in the matter of taxation, the Court allows wide area of picking and choosing and the slab system. We are therefore, of the opinion that there was sufficient guideline to govern the discretion of the revenue officer and the rule could not be struck down on the ground that it confers wide arbitrary, uncanalised discretionary power uncontrolled by any guidelines. 22. A very feeble attempt was made to urge that there was excessive delegation of essential legislative functions to the executive giving it the power not only to enact the rule but to amend it so to vary the N. A. assessment. Section 50 clearly confers power on the State Legislature to levy assessment and when the land is diverted to a use other than agriculture, the legislature conferred the power to levy N. A. assessment. Elaborate provision has been made for levying assessment. Section 172 conferred power to enact rules for giving effect to the provision of the Act and the guideline was provided as herein above indicated. Therefore we are not impressed by the submission that in this case the legislature was gu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... neral level of the value of the lands in the locality used for non-agricultural purposes. Rule 82 makes detailed provision for the rate of non-agricultural assessment to be determined in accordance with that provision where special rate of non-agricultural assessment is in force. Where N. A. assessment is levied at an ordinary rate, the Commissioner before determining the rate at which N. A. assessment will be levied on any particular plot has by notification to divide the villages, towns and cities in each district in his division to which a standard rate under Rule 82 has not been extended into two classes. Even while assessing N. A. assessment, the Commissioner has to keep in view the level of value of land in the locality used for non-agricultural purposes. In our opinion, both the Act (Code ?) and Rules thus provide for sufficient guidelines, and it cannot be said that the Commissioner enjoys wide arbitrary discretionary power. The discretion has to operate within the floor and the ceiling; the yardstick is the value of the land used for non agricultural purposes in the locality, the area has to be divided village-wise, town-wise, city-wise and overall what is being assessed i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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