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TMI Blog2022 (9) TMI 938X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... property tax in terms of the Puducherry Municipality Act, 1973 (in short 'Act') and for this purpose reliance is placed on Section 124 of the Act providing for general exemptions. 3. The petitioner was faced with notices demanding property tax from the year 2010-11 and has also paid the same in full. Thereafter, according to the petitioner, it had come to know that there was an exemption provided for the very activity that it was engaged in and the other similarly placed educational institutions have not been visited with the same demands. Hence, it sought information under Right to Information Act, 2005, that supported its stand that it had been singled out for the differential tax treatments. 4. A writ petition came to be filed in W.P.No.30568 of 2018 challenging the demand notice issued for the period 2010-11 to 2016-17 dated 26.10.2018. The writ petition came to be disposed on 20.11.2018 directing R2, being the Oulgaret Municipality to consider and dispose representation dated 20.06.2018, wherein it sought tax exemption, on merits and in accordance with law. The demand under the impugned notice had been directed to be kept in abeyance for a period of four weeks withi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 1999 Regulations is to prescribe the requirements intended for a medical college and medical institution approved for 150 admissions of MBBS students, annually, being a college and its associated teaching hospital, staff (teaching and technical both) and equipment in the college departments and the hospitals. This is as per Clause 2 of the Regulations. 10. Thus the concept of a teaching college is one that forms part of the scheme of medical instruction. The regulations provide for the specific departments that are to be run, providing for the colleges and institutions to set up other departments, on need basis, to meet the teaching needs of the college and health care needs of the public. Provision is made for accommodating the teaching and technical staff and equipment required in each department inclusive of the needs of the college, institution, and associated teaching hospitals. 11. Schedule I of the Regulations conceives of a unitary campus in which the medical college/institution shall be housed proximate to the teaching hospital, with the recommendation that the teaching hospital shall be within a radius of 5 Kms of the campus. Companies registered under the Companies Act ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... aching facilities and other requirements prescribed for the various annual intakes of MBBS students in these regulations . 8. Further, the parcel of land being used for establishing the medical college is not to be used for any other college institution (such as Nursing College, Dental College. Engineering College or any other College or Hostel or accommodation). 3. In Clause 2 (5) under the heading 'QUALIFYING CRITERIA', after the last para the following new Para shall be added : ( 5A ) For Medical Colleges being established from Academic Session 2021-22 : That the person owns and manages a fully functional minimum 300 bedded Hospital with necessary infrastructural facilities capable of being developed into a teaching institution. Provided that in North - Eastern States and Hilly Areas, the bed strength required at the time of inception may be 250. An additional 30 beds for emergency care should be mandatory in all such Hospitals. Further the Hospital should be fully functional for a minimum period of two years . 4. In Clause 8 under the heading "GRANT OF PERMISSION "after the existing clause 8 ( 3 ) ( 1 ) the following new Para shall be added :- 8 ( 3 ) ( 1A ) For ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... person liable to such tax. (3) The Government shall, by notification, determine in regard to any Panchayat Village or any class of Panchayat Villages whether the house tax shall be levied every half-year or year and in so doing have regard to the following matters, namely:- (a) the classification of the local areas under Section 4; (b) the annual receipts of the Village Panchayat; (c) the population of the Panchayat Village and the predominant occupation of such population; and (d) such other matters as may be prescribed. ...... "Rule 15 - Exemption of specified classes of houses from house-tax.-- The following buildings shall, if they fall within the meaning of house as defined in the Act, be exempt from the house-tax -- (a).... (b).... (c) buildings used for educational pur poses including hostels and libraries which are open to the public and public buildings used for charitable purpose of sheltering the destitutes or animals. (d) to (k).... Provided that nothing contained in clauses (a) and (c) shall be deemed to exempt from house-tax, if any building for which rent is payable by the person or per sons using the same for the purposes referred t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 32 ITR 466 (Commissioner Of Income-tax Vs Raja Benoy Kumar Sahas Roy (SC)) at 475, 177 ITR 431 (Commissioner Of Income-tax Vs Strawboard Mfg. Co. Ltd. (SC),) 170 ITR 137 (Central Board Of Direct Taxes Vs. Aditya V. Birla (SC)). These decisions give us the guiding principle on the understanding of an exemption provision to declare that exemption from tax is an exception to the general chargeability to tax under the provisions of the taxing enactment. Hence, those who claim an exception from liability must bring themselves within the terms of the exemption provision. Secondly, tax being the source by which the State gets its revenue, any claim of exemption from payment of tax must be clearly defined and founded on plain language. Where one is concerned with the interpretation of an exemption claim in a taxing statute, once the assessee proves that his case falls within the ambit of the proviso for exemption, then, that claim must, as far as possible, be liberally construed provided no violence is done to the language used." 15. In coming to the above conclusion, they note and rely upon judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in The Sole Trustee Loka Shikshana Trust Vs. The Comm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hospitals and dispensaries; 20. As far as the provisions of Section 124(c) are concerned, any building used for educational purposes that is attached to an educational institution, must qualify for the exemption as per a plain reading of the provision. As expressed by the Division Bench in the case of Sriram Educational Trust (supra) there is no necessity to strain the language of the Act as the language is clear and does not admit of any ambiguity. The question is whether the hospital is in fact, being used 'for educational purposes'. To determine this, the authority considering the claim of exemption, would have to look into the activities of the institute/hospital, bearing note of the use to which they are being put. 21. As to the argument that a hospital ancillary to a Medical College assumes a special status as a teaching hospital, also and equally engaged in the dissemination of medical education, such an argument bears looking into, including specifically whether the hospital is being run along commercial lines, how the income earned is being utilized as well as other relevant factors in arriving at a considered decision in regard to the claim of the petitioner. T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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