Gujarat High Court
Ghadia Kishor Harjibhai vs Jamnagar Municipal Corporation on 1 July, 2025
Author: Sunita Agarwal
Bench: Sunita Agarwal
NEUTRAL CITATION
C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025
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IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 759 of 2025
In R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2962 of 2024
With
CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR STAY) NO. 1 of 2025
In R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 759 of 2025
With
CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR PRODUCTION OF ADDITIONAL EVIDENCES)
NO. 2 of 2025
In R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 759 of 2025
With
R/LETTERS PATENT APPEAL NO. 752 of 2025
In
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2072 of 2024
With
CIVIL APPLICATION (FOR STAY) NO. 1 of 2025 In R/LETTERS PATENT
APPEAL NO. 752 of 2025
In
R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 2072 of 2024
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GHADIA KISHOR HARJIBHAI
Versus
JAMNAGAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION & ANR.
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Appearance:
MR SP MAJMUDAR(3456) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MS RADHIKA M BHATT(12910) for the Appellant(s) No. 1
MR HS MUNSHAW(495) for the Respondent(s) No. 1,2
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CORAM:HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS.
JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL
and
HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE D.N.RAY
Date : 01/07/2025
COMMON ORAL ORDER
(PER : HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MRS. JUSTICE SUNITA AGARWAL)
1. Both the above referred Letters Patent Appeals arising Page 1 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined out of a common judgment and order dated 08.05.2025 passed by the learned Single Judge of this Court, are being heard and decided together with the consent of the learned counsel for the parties.
2. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the record, we may note that the only issue raised before us to challenge the decision of the learned Single Judge in dismissing the writ petition challenging the bills pertaining to property tax of the property in question, is the denial of opportunity of hearing resulting into violation of Rule-15(2) of the Rules framed under the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949. Considering the submission of the learned counsel for the appellant, we may note the findings returned by the learned Single Judge in paragraphs- 24 and 25 of the judgment impugned as under:-
"24. Moreover, from the rejoinder affidavit dated 17.03.2025 in Special Civil Application No.2692 of 2024, it is noticed that averments are made disputing service of notice. Allegations of false statements on oath by the respondent- corporation were made. In other words, facts stated on oath were disputed and thus at the most it may be a case of disputed questions of facts with regard to service of notice. Therefore, the levy of property tax in Page 2 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined cases of petitioners in relation to their respective properties and consequential demand raised in the opinion of this court, are not without jurisdiction.
25. In view of above, in the opinion of this Court, since levy of property tax being mandatory and once the levy is made after framing the assessment during the official year, followed by entry in the assessment book and the assessment book to be made available to the person for inspection, in the opinion of this Court, no case is made out to quash and set-aside the bills issued for the years 2018 to 2024."
3. We may further note that the stand taken by the respondent no.2 namely, Jamnagar Municipal Corporation, Jamnagar in the affidavit-in-reply filed before the writ court wherein paragraphs- 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 [page-156 to 158], reads as under:-
"9. The respondent no.2 submits that all these properties were surveyed and measured, and thereafter, individual notices were served on all the units owners under the provision of Rule 15(2) of the Taxation Rules under Chapter-8 of the Guajrat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949.
10. The respondent no.2 submits that running units as well as residential units were sent notices through post while so far as the vacant plots are concerned, it was Page 3 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined thought fit to serve the notices personally through staff members of Property Tax Department.
11. The respondent no.2 submits that the authority is having registers about the service of notices to the unit holders by way of two separate modes, as stated herein above. It is stated that the posts were sent through under the Postal Certificates which is so clear from the record.
12. The respondent no.3 submits that respondent no.2 craves leave to produce both the registers during the course of hearing of present Special Civil Application.
13. The respondent no.2 submits that not a single unit holder has submitted objections against individual notices issued under Rule 15(2) of the relevant Taxation Rules.
14. The respondent no.2 submits that, as there were no objections of this assessment notices issued under Rule 15(2), as referred to herein above, it was though fit to proceed further and issued bills for the taxation under the provisions of Rule 39. It is stated that identical procedure was followed by the administration and it has prepared two separate registers in this regard indicating bills served through U.P.C. (Under Postal Certificates) as well as handed over personally through staff members."
4. It may not be out of place to note that the learned Single Judge has gone through three affidavits submitted by the respondent - corporation and has recorded in paragraphs- Page 4 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined 9(iv), (v), (vi) as under:-
"9(iv) Against the contentions of the petitioners, three replies have been filed by the respondent - Corporation. In the reply dated 03.07.2024 (page 18) reliance has been placed on inclusion of properties of the petitioners into Jamnagar Municipal Corporation. Section 141 of GPMC Act is referred for the levy of property tax and recording of 1,02,333 newly added properties, in the assessment book. The averment with regard to assessment framed, recorded in the assessment book, and service of bills has been made. Distinction has been carved out in the affidavit to the effect that the issue pending before the Hon'ble Supreme Court, pertains to demand of property tax up to year 2013 and in these cases, the issue is in relation to levy and demand of property tax for the years 2018-2019 to 2023-2024, wherein the assessments in respective cases were recorded in assessment book during official year, by following "chaturvarshiya aakarni". Objections were invited by putting the petitioners to notice and thereafter assessments were finalised during official year. The bills were thereafter prepared and served to the petitioners. For proof of service of bills; delivery register is annexed at page 59. Other documents referred are minutes of meetings between property holders and Municipal Corporation, for payment of property tax.
(v) In the second affidavit filed dated 01.03.2025, bills generated from the year 2018-2019 followed by year 2019-
2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022, 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 were placed by way of specimen bills. Assessments of Page 5 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined property tax in all cases for 2018-2019 to 2023-2024, before end of the official year was done and generation of bills is asserted annexing bills at Annexures A and B. As informed by Learned Advocate Mr. Munshaw for respondent- Corporation, Shri Jignesh Jitendrakumar Nirmal, In-charge Assistant Municipal Commissioner (Tax) was present with the original documents like assessment book, bills generated and proof of service.
(vi) The third affidavit dated 08.03.2025, reads as under:
"7. The respondent No.2 submits that Jamnagar Municipal Corporation has carried out all the due process of assessment & billing of the property tax.
8. Respondent No.2 most humbly submits that, industrial units and residential units of GIDC, Phase 2 and 3 were surveyed and assessed and on-line assessment book was prepared as per the provisions of Rule 9 of the Taxation Rules. It is submitted that, survey and measurement with regards to 1656 and 1318 industrial units of GIDC, Phase 2 and 3 was carried out. It is further submitted that similarly, survey and measurement of 1002 residential units of GIDC, Phase 2 and 3 were also completed. It is pertinent to note that there are in all 605 open plots in GIDC, Phase 2 and 3 and similar exercise was carried out for the said properties also. It is reiterated that complete details were made available about the properties On-line for public at large. A copy of the online assessment information is annexed herewith and marked as Annexure:
A. Page 6 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined
9. The respondent no.2 submits that all these properties were surveyed and measured, and thereafter, individual notices were served on all the units' owners under the provision of Rule 15(2) of the Taxation Rules under Chapter-8 of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949.
10. The respondent no.2 submits that running units as well as residential units were sent notices through post while so far as the vacant plots are concerned, it was thought fit to serve the notices personally through staff members of Property Tax Department.
11. The respondent no.2 submits that the authority is having registers about the service of notices to the unit holders by way of two separate modes, as stated herein above. It is stated that the posts were sent through under the Postal Certificates which is so clear from the record.
12. The respondent no.3 submits that respondent no.2 craves leave to produce both the registers during the course of hearing of present Special Civil Application.
13. The respondent no.2 submits that not a single unit holder has submitted objections against individual notices issued under Rule 15(2) of the relevant Taxation Rules.
14. The respondent no.2 submits that, as there were no objections of this assessment notices issued under Rule 15(2), as referred to herein above, it was though fit to Page 7 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined proceed further and issued bills for the taxation under the provisions of Rule 39. It is stated that identical procedure was followed by the administration and it has prepared two separate registers in this regard indicating bills served through U.P.C. (Under Postal Certificates) as well as handed over personally through staff members.
15. The respondent no.2 submits that the contention raised by the petitioner association is contrary to the provisions of Rule 21(a) of the relevant Rules and it is categorically ruled that new assessment book need not be prepared every official year. It is also provided that even under certain circumstances, assessment book may be prepared, completed etc. after the expiry of year to which it relates.
16. The respondent No.2 submits that as per the Rule 21(2) A new assessment book is to be prepared at least once in every four years.
17. The respondent no.2 submits that there are in all more than 312000 properties which are assessed for property taxes and other taxes. The respondent no.2 is maintaining On Line Data Base of all assesses for the property taxes and other taxes. In another word, the assessment register is maintained and is available online and any assessee can have hard copy of it provided a property tax number is available. The Website of the respondent is WWW.MCJAMNAGAR.COM
18. The respondent No.2 submits that after the first Page 8 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined assessment in 2016-17 & 2017-18, Jamnagar Municipal Corporation has carried out the Chaturvarshiya Akarani 2018-2022. And the public notice for the same, the completion of the assessment, viewing of the assessment book, issuance of assessment notice and finally updating of billing are annexed herewith and marked as annexure-B.
19. The assessment is a continue process and after the 2018-22, Jamnagar Municipal Corporation has started the Chaturvarshiya Akarani of 2023-27. The public Notice for the same and partial completion of the same are annexed herewith and marked as annexure-C.
20. It is stated that non-payment of huge amount of property tax and other taxes has adversely affected the financial position of Jamnagar Municipal Corporation and resultantly, developmental works are paralyzed and ultimately, sufferer is public at large.
Hence, the Hon'ble Court may be pleased to not to grant any interim-relief and reject the present Special Civil Application in limine with cost in the interest of justice."
5. In the rejoinder affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioner, there is no parawise reply to the contents of the affidavit-in- reply of the Corporation noted hereinabove. Rather the statement in the rejoinder starts with the submission made on behalf of the appellant that the narration made by the Page 9 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined respondent - corporation in its further affidavit-in-reply dated 01.03.2025; 03.07.2024 and also 08.03.2025 and others are denied in toto as the same are far from truth and hence, non- dealing of the same in a parawise manner may not be construed to be admission on the part of the petitioner. The above noted averment made in paragraph-1 of the rejoinder amounts to bald denial of specific stand of the respondent - corporation in various affidavits filed by it in reply to the writ petition. Non-dealing with the contents of the affidavit-in-reply filed by the Corporation parawise and there being no specific denial to the contents thereof, it would amount to the admission of the petitioner. The petitioner cannot be permitted to take a stand that though he chose not to file any parawise reply making specific denial to the statements made therein, but his answer be not treated as an admission on his part. In any case, in view of such stand of the petitioner, the specific averments of the Corporation in its affidavits filed before the writ Court remained unrebutted.
6. As regards the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner based on the statement made in paragraph-10 onwards of the rejoinder affidavit at page 190 of the paper- Page 10 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025
NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined book, the same are misleading in nature and seems to have been made on the legal advice as there is no specific denial on the part of the petitioner to the factual averments made in the affidavit-in-reply filed by the respondent - Corporation. The statement made in the rejoinder cannot be appreciated to attach any infirmity to the observations of the learned Single Judge as noted hereinbefore. We may further note the observation of the learned Single Judge in paragraph-16 of the judgment impugned, which reads as under:-
"16. Reliance was also placed independently on the decision in the case of L.M.Patel vs. Baroda Municipal Corporation reported in 1995 1 GLH 1198 ; and Hubli vs. Subha Rao Hanumantharao Prayag and Ors. which has been considered by this Court in Special Civil Application No.18000 of 2018. In those cases also, the facts were to the effect that assessments were not framed and recorded during official year for the levy of property tax. Whereas, in the cases on hand this court cannot ignore the affidavits filed and the documents annexed justifying assessments framed in case of respective properties of the petitioners and recorded in the assessment book. The procedure followed before service of bills is considered in earlier paragraphs that assessment book was made available to the petitioners for inspection, despite which no objections were raised and thereafter bills were served. One more aspect this Court would like to highlight is about petitioners contending to being Page 11 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined unaware about the online availability of bills. The said contention falls to the ground in light of the fact that the petitioners, through their association itself held negotiations with the Respondent Corporation. Further, as contended by the respondent-JMC that there are total 4460 properties in GID Jamnagar phase II and III, and out of that 3580 properties have paid their taxes."
7. With the above, the submissions made by the learned counsel for the appellant to assail the assessment made by the corporation towards property tax on the plea of violation of the principles of natural justice are not tenable.
8. There is another aspect of the matter that against the assessment of the property tax on merits, an efficarious statutory remedy is available under Section-406 of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949. The argument made by the learned counsel for the appellant to assail the levy of property tax on merits, therefore, cannot be entertained.
9. Both the appeals stand dismissed, accordingly. However, it is clarified that, in case, the petitioner files appeal under Section-406 of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Page 12 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025 NEUTRAL CITATION C/LPA/759/2025 ORDER DATED: 01/07/2025 undefined Act, 1949, the dismissal of the present appeal and the writ petition for the observations made therein, will not come in his way.
All the pending civil applications would not survive and are hereby disposed of accordingly.
(SUNITA AGARWAL, CJ ) (D.N.RAY,J) A. B. VAGHELA Page 13 of 13 Uploaded by A. B. VAGHELA(HC01079) on Mon Jul 07 2025 Downloaded on : Mon Jul 07 22:05:37 IST 2025