Uttarakhand High Court
WPMS/3583/2023 on 13 November, 2025
Author: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
Bench: Manoj Kumar Tiwari
2025:UHC:10051
Office Notes,
reports, orders
or proceedings
SL.
Date or directions COURT'S OR JUDGE'S ORDERS
No.
and Registrar's
order with
Signatures
WPMS No. 3583 of 2023
With
WPMS No. 3569 of 2023
WPMS No. 3570 of 2023
WPMS No. 3575 of 2023
WPMS No. 3578 of 2023
WPMS No. 3581 of 2023
WPMS No. 3600 of 2023
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J
1. Mr. Dushyant Manali, learned counsel
for the petitioners.
2. Mr. Suyash Pant, learned Standing
Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand.
3. Mr. B.D. Pande, learned counsel for the
respondent-Nagar Palika Parishad Ramnagar
4. Petitioners were let out shops by
Nagar Palika Parishad Ramnagar. Since
petitioners did not pay rent in respect of
shops for certain period, therefore, Nagar
Palika Parishad Ramnagar issued recovery
certificates, pursuant to which Tehsildar
Ramnagar issued citations for recovery of
amount of unpaid rent. Thus, feeling
aggrieved petitioners have filed these writ
petitions challenging the recovery citations.
5. Since common questions of fact and
law are involved in these petitions,
therefore, these petitions are clubbed
together and decided by this common
judgment. However, for the sake of brevity
and convenience, facts of WPMS No. 3583 of
2023 alone are being considered and
discussed.
6. The relief sought by petitioner in
WPMS No. 3583 of 2023 is as below:-
(i) Issue a writ of certiorari to quash the impugned
recovery citation dated 18.10.2023 issued by
respondent no. 4 annexed at Annexure No. 1 to
the writ petition.
2025:UHC:10051
7. Learned counsel for the petitioner
submits that unpaid rent by petitioner in
respect of a shop, belonging to Nagar Palika
Parishad Ramnagar, cannot be recovered as
arrears of land revenue.
8. Learned counsel for Nagar Palika
Parishad Ramnagar, however, has drawn
attention of this Court to the provision
contained in Section 173A of Uttarakhand
Municipalities Act, 1916. Section 173A of
Uttarakhand Municipalities Act permits
recovery of Municipality Taxes as arrears of
land revenue, which reads as under:-
"173A. Recovery of taxes as arrears of
land revenue- (1) Where any sum is due on
account of a tax, other than any tax payable
upon immediate demand, from a person to a
Municipality, the Municipality may without
prejudice to any other mode of recovery apply
to the Collector to recover such sum together
with costs of the proceedings as if it were an
arrear of a land revenue.
(2) The Collector on being satisfied that the
sum is due shall proceed to recover it is an
arrear of land revenue."
9. Learned counsel for the Nagar Palika
Parishad referred to a judgment rendered by
learned Single Judge of this Court in WPMS
No. 1851 of 2023 (Bhupender Rawat vs
State of Uttarakhand & others), where after
considering provisions contained in Section
292 of Uttarakhand Municipalities Act, 2016,
it was held that rent payable to Municipality
can also be recovered as arrears of land
revenue. The view taken by learned Single
Judge in WPMS No. 1851 of 2023 was
upheld by Division Bench in SPA No. 295 of
2023, vide judgment dated 11.08.2023.
Para 8 of the judgment rendered by Division
Bench is extracted below:-
"8. The learned Single Judge has considered
this submission, and in our view, rightly
concluded that Section 173-A, which is
contained in amended Chapter VI of the said
Act, would be attracted to recovery of rent
2025:UHC:10051
under Section 292."
11. Section 292 of Uttarakhand
Municipalities Act is extracted below:-
"292 Recovery of rent of other immovable
property- Any arrears due on account of rent
from a person to the Municipality in respect of
immovable property other than land vested in
or entrusted to the management of the
Municipality, shall be recovered in the manner
prescribed by Chapter VI."
12. Section 292 permits recovery of rent
payable to Municipality in the manner
prescribed by Chapter-VI.
13. A conjoint reading of Section 292 with
Section 173A of Uttarakhand Municipalities
Act, thus permits recovery of Municipal
dues, including rent, as arrears of land
revenue.
14. This being the legal position, this Court
does not find any reason to interfere with
the impugned recovery citation.
15. Accordingly, writ petition fails and are
hereby dismissed.
Hon'ble Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J
1. Mr. Dushyant Manali, learned counsel
for the petitioners.
2. Mr. Suyash Pant, learned Standing
Counsel for the State of Uttarakhand.
3. Mr. B.D. Pande with Ms. Ruchika Negi,
Advocate holding brief of Mr. Sandeep
Kothari, learned counsel for the respondent-
Nagar Palika Parishad Ramnagar
4. Learned counsel for the petitioners
then submitted that although the shops
were originally let out to the petitioners by
Nagar Palika Parishad, however, when
2025:UHC:10051
petitioners expressed their inability to pay
the agreed rent, then Nagar Palika Parishad
Ramnagar allotted the shops to other
persons; thus, he submits that Nagar Palika
Parishad cannot recover rent from
petitioners and also from the other persons
to whom the shops were subsequently
allotted.
5. Since this is purely a factual dispute,
which cannot be gone into in a writ petition,
therefore, the writ petitions are disposed of
with liberty to petitioners to make
representation(s) to Executive Officer, Nagar
Palika Parishad Ramnagar. If petitioners
make representation(s) within one week
from today, Executive Officer concerned
shall take decision thereupon within three
weeks thereafter. For a period of three
weeks, recovery proceedings, pursuant to
impugned recovery citation(s), shall be kept
in abeyance.
(Manoj Kumar Tiwari, J)
13.11.2025
Aswal
NITI RAJ Digitally signed by NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL
DN: c=IN, o=HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND, ou=HIGH COURT OF
UTTARAKHAND,
2.5.4.20=eacc6757ee7881e933ff8934f07477005aa85f9802a3a08b08d1369
SINGH ASWAL
512ea30f3, postalCode=263001, st=UTTARAKHAND,
serialNumber=44EB54CBF00B7698CB6F10C2CE3D26F5C22DACF4F4610C1
FE58A58531726FBB0, cn=NITI RAJ SINGH ASWAL
Date: 2025.11.13 05:20:26 -08'00'
