# Rt. Rev. A.R.Stephen,Bishop of Lucknow v. The Nagar Nigam, Allahabad &another

- **Citation:** (2012) 1 ILRA 415
- **Court:** High Court of Judicature at Allahabad
- **Decided:** 2012-04-03
- **Bench:** Sunil Ambwani, Pankaj Naqvi
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/allahabad-high-court/rt-rev-a-r-stephen-bishop-of-lucknow-v-the-nagar-nigam-allahabad-another-42178
- **Pages:** 5

## Headnote

U.P. Municipal Corporation Act 1959-as
amended Act 2006-Section 177 (c)-
Exemption
from
House
Tax-Knox
Memorial Hall situated in Holy Trinity
Church-running Boys High School-levy of
House Tax-on ground being un-aided
School-misconceived-exemption
is
unconditional-wholly
immaterial
whether
aided
or
un-aided-demand
notice quashed.

Held: Para 14

For the aforesaid reasons, we find that
the building of 'Holy Trinity School', used
solely for the purposes of school, even if
it is not getting any aid from the State
Government is exempt from payment of
house tax. The exemption under Section
177 (c) of the U.P. Municipal Corporation
Act, 1959, is not qualified, or conditional
and thus the school is not liable to pay
any house tax.

## Text

1 All] Rt. Rev. A.R.Stephen,Bishop of Lucknow V. The Nagar Nigam, Allahabad &another. 415
impropriety
and
irregularity
in
the
judgment and orders passed by the courts
below. Hence, no interference is called for
by this Court in this revision. However, as
regard the question of sentence, it is
directed that payment of compensation
awarded by the court below under Section
357 (3) Cr.P.C. of Rs. 60,000/- which
shall be paid by the revisionist within two
months from today to opposite party No.
2 and Rs. 5,000/- should also be deposited
by the revisionist to the court concerned
and the sentence of simple imprisonment
of three months is converted to period
already undergone. Revision is partly
allowed. In case of default of payment, as
directed above, the revisionist shall be
taken into custody to serve out sentence
as directed by the courts below.
---------
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CIVIL SIDE
DATED: ALLAHABAD 03.04.2012

BEFORE
THE HON'BLE SUNIL AMBWANI, J.
THE HON'BLE PANKAJ NAQVI, J.

Writ Tax No. - 2996 of 2002

Rt. Rev. A.R.Stephen,Bishop of Lucknow

 ...Petitioner
Versus
The Nagar Nigam,Alld. and another

 ...Respondents

Counsel for the Petitioner:
Sri A.D. Saunders

Counsel for the Respondents:
Sri Q.H.Siddiqui

U.P. Municipal Corporation Act 1959-as
amended Act 2006-Section 177 (c)-
Exemption
from
House
Tax-Knox
Memorial Hall situated in Holy Trinity
Church-running Boys High School-levy of
House Tax-on ground being un-aided
School-misconceived-exemption
is
unconditional-wholly
immaterial
whether
aided
or
un-aided-demand
notice quashed.

Held: Para 14

For the aforesaid reasons, we find that
the building of 'Holy Trinity School', used
solely for the purposes of school, even if
it is not getting any aid from the State
Government is exempt from payment of
house tax. The exemption under Section
177 (c) of the U.P. Municipal Corporation
Act, 1959, is not qualified, or conditional
and thus the school is not liable to pay
any house tax.

(Delivered by Hon'ble Sunil Ambwani,J.)

1. We have heard Shri A.D.
Saunders,
learned
counsel
for
the
petitioner. Learned Standing Counsel
appears for the State respondents. Shri
Q.H. Siddiqui has filed appearance on
behalf of Nagar Nigam and has also filed
counter affidavit. This matter is on the list
for several months. He has not appeared
on any of the dates and thus we are
proceeding to hear the matter on the basis
of the counter affidavit filed by Nagar
Nigam, Allahabad.

2. Rt. Rev. A.R. Stephan, Bishop of
Lucknow, Church of North India, Bishop
House, Allahabad has filed this writ
petition
against
the
Nagar
Nigam,
Allahabad and the Tax Superintendent,
Nagar Nigam, Allahabad against the levy
and assessment of tax on the 'Holy Trinity
School', Knox Memorial Hall, 16/2,
Church Lane, Allahabad.

3. Brief facts giving rise of this writ
petition are that there is Holy Trinity
Church at 16/2, Church Lane, Allahabad.
There is also a hall known as 'Knox
416 INDIAN LAW REPORTS ALLAHABAD SERIES [2012
Memorial Hall', which is used for
charitable purposes. A school building has
been constructed in the same campus in
which a school in the name of 'Holy
Trinity School' is being run. The school is
an annexe of Boys High School and
College, Allahabad. The school is not
aided by the Government. It is alleged
that the school is being run by the
charitable society for charitable purposes
dealing in the field of education. The
school
also
has
church
functions
particularly in the month of December
every year, in which the students of the
school participate. The Nagar Nigam,
Allahabad is assessing the house tax on
'Knox Memorial Hall' 16/2 Church Lane,
regularly. It appears that the petitioner
was paying the house tax at the rate of
Rs.386.40. The annual value of the
building of the school was assessed for
the first time and on which the house tax
was
assessed
w.e.f.
1.10.1997
to
31.3.2003 giving rise to this writ petition.

4. The Nagar Nigam has assessed
the house tax on 'Knox Memorial Hall'
16/2 Church Lane, Allahabad on the
annual
value
of
the
building
at
Rs.21,37,800/- on which house tax was
worked out at Rs.4,70,316/-. A bill for
payment of current house tax and the
arrears of Rs.19,56,087/- was sent to the
petitoner to be paid by 30.9.2002.

5. By an interim order dated
11.12.2002, the recovery of the bill was
stayed by the Court. The order is quoted
as below:-

"Sri
QS
Siddqui
may
counter
affidavit
within
three
weeks.
List
thereafter.

Section
177
of
UP
Municipal
Corporation Act, 1959 exempted Schools
and colleges from house tax. By the
amended UP Municipal (Amendment) Act
(1999), UP Act No.17 of 1999, Schools
and colleges are still exempted except for
professional, vocational, technical and
medical institutions, which are not run
and managed by the Government. Hence
prima face the levy of the impugned house
tax appears to be illegal in view of section
177 of the Act as amended. We, therefore,
stay the operations of the bill dated NIL,
Annexure-3 to the writ petition till further
order."

6. The counter affidavit of Shri S.L.
Yadav, Legal Advisor, Nagar Nigam,
Allahabad has been filed stating in para 4,
6, 8 and 10 as follows:-

"4. That the contents of para 2 of the
writ petition are denied as stated and it is
further submitted that in the records of
Nagar
Nigam the
building no.16/2
Church Lane is recorded in the name of
Knox Memorial and in which a School
namely Holy Trinity is also running along
with the Church and School is running in
the entire building except the portion of
Church. It is further submitted that in
accordance to the Section 174 (a) of U.P.
Municipal Corporation Act, 1959 the
value of building is Rs.3,44,02,352/- and
after assessing at the rate of 7% the value
comes to Rs.21,37,800/- with effect from
1.10.97, and in accordance to the
provision of the Act the Church has been
exempted while assessing the tax.

6. That the contents of para 4 of the
writ petition are denied as stated and in
reply it is further submitted that the Holy
Trinity School which is a Branch/Annexee
of Boys High School is imparting
1 All] Rt. Rev. A.R.Stephen,Bishop of Lucknow V. The Nagar Nigam, Allahabad &another. 417
education, with fee and also the aforesaid
institution is not being managed by the
State Government.

8. That the contents of para 6 of the
writ petition are denied as stated and it is
further submitted that the Secretary/ Govt.
issued a G.O. No.1674/Naw-9-98 dt.
22.7.98 by which exemption has been
granted to certain institution namely
Govt. Colleges, Govt. Degree Colleges
and College and degree colleges of
Handicapped/ Deaf & Dumb/ unsound
mind and also the colleges and degree
colleges who are not charging fee of
Rs.50/- per month. But the petitioner has
failed to produce any document which
may show that the condition stated in the
G.O. dated 22.7.98 is applicable upon
him. For kind perusal of this Hon'ble
Court copy of the G.O. dt. 22.7.98 is
being attached herewith and marked as
Annexure CA-1.

10. That the contents of para 8 of the
writ petition are denied as stated and it is
further submitted that Holy Trinity School
is managed by the institution namely
Church of North India and from the
student from all the caste and religion are
studying after paying heavy amount to the
institution and also there is no provision
for the poor or down trodden section of
the society."

7. Shri Saunders, learned counsel for
the petitioner submits that the U.P.
Municipal Corporation Act, 1959 provide
for exemption from general tax on the
schools
building.
He
submits
that
unamended Section 177 had originally
exempted buildings solely used as jails,
court houses, treasuries, schools and
colleges. The unamended Section 177 (c)
provided as follows:-

"177. (c) building solely used as
schools and intermediate colleges whether
aided by the State Government or not,
fields, farms and gardens of Government
aided
institutes
of
research
and
development, playgrounds of government
aided or unaided recognized educational
institutions and sports stadium."

8. The Act was amended by U.P.
Ordinance No.20 of 2002 and U.P.
Ordinance No.8 of 2003 on 21.11.2002
and
8.4.2003
respectively.
These
ordinances could not be replaced by an
Act of the Legislature and were allowed
to lapse. The U.P. Municipal Corporation
Act, 1959 was thereafter amended by U.P.
Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act,
2004 by U.P. Act No.16 of 2004 w.e.f.
11th August, 2004. The Prefatory Note
giving statement of object and reasons
appended
to
the
U.P.
Municipal
Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2004
reads as follows:-

"Prefatory Note-Statement of Objects
and Reasons-With a view to bringing
uniformity with other Corporations of the
Country in the names of certain offices of
the Municipal Corporation and making
the
provisions
more
effective
and
practicable in the present situation, the
Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2002 (U.P.
Ordinance No.20 of 2002) and the Uttar
Pradesh
Municipal
Corporation
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2003 (U.P.
Ordinance
No.8
of
2003)
were
promulgated on November 21,2002 and
April 8, 2003 respectively to amend the
Uttar Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act,
1959 (U.P. Act No.2 of 1959). The
provisions of the said Ordinances were
replaced by the Uttar Pradesh Municipal
Corporations
(Amendment)
(Second)
418 INDIAN LAW REPORTS ALLAHABAD SERIES [2012
Ordinance, 2003 (U.P. Ordinance No.29
of 2003) but it could not be replaced by
an Act of the Legislature and was allowed
to be lapsed. Now it has been decided to
amend the said Act with retrospective
effect i.e. with effect from November
21,2002 to provide for,-

1. changing the names of certain
offices of the Municipal Corporations;

2. making provision for more than
one Additional Municipal Commissioner
in a Municipal Corporation;

3. removal of Mayor by the State
Government after considering the motion
of no-confidence passed by the threefourth majority of the total number of the
members of the Corporation;

4. insertion of certain acts which also
disqualify a person from being or from
being chosen as the Corporator, a Deputy
Mayor or Mayor of a Corporation;

5. increasing financial jurisdiction of
the Mayor, the Corporation and the
Municipal Commissioner in relation to
the execution of contracts and sanction of
estimates;

6.
changing
the
procedure
of
imposition and realization of property tax.

The
Uttar
Pradesh
Municipal
Corporations (Amendment) Bill, 2004 is
introduced accordingly."

9. Section 177 (c) was amended by
the
U.P.
Municipal
Corporation
(Amendment) Act, 2004 providing that
building solely used as school and
intermediate college, whether aided by the
State Government or not shall be
exempted
from
general
tax.
The
amendment of Section 177 is quoted as
below:-

"9. Amendment of Section 177- In
Section 177 of the principal Act,-

(a) for clause (c) the following clause
shall be substituted, namely:-

"(c) building solely used as schools
and Intermediate colleges whether aided
by the State Government or not;";

(b) for clause (h) the following
clause shall be substituted, namely:-

"(h) residential buildings occupied
by the owner of building, which is located
in such area which has been included in
the limit of Corporation within five years
or the facilities of roads, drinking water
and street light provided in the area,
whichever is earlier."

10. The Act was further amended by
U.P. Act No.38 of 2006, amending clause
(c) of Section 177 as follows:-

"177. (c) building solely used as
schools and intermediate colleges whether
aided by the State Government or not,
fields, farms and gardens of Government
aided
institutes
of
research
and
development, playgrounds of government
aided or unaided recognized educational
institutions and sports stadium."

11. The exemptions under Section
177 (b), and its subsequent amendments
chronologically
detailed
as
above
including last amendment by U.P. Act
No.38 of 2006, exempted the buildings
solely used as schools and colleges.
Initially there was no qualifying words
1 All] Om Prakash Yadav V. State of U.P. and others
419
such as 'whether aided by the State
Government or not'. These words were
subsequently added in the Amendment
Act, 2004, and thereafter the Amendment
Act, 2006.

12. In the present case it is not denied
that in the campus of the church and the
'Knox Hall', the school by the name of
'Holy Trinity School', is being run in a
separate building, which is an annexee of
the Boys High School and College. There
is no denial in the counter affidavit that this
building is being solely used as school.
The petitioner states that the school is not
getting any aid by the State Government.
In view of the exemption given under
Section 177 (c), as amended from time to
time, it is immaterial whether the building,
which is solely used as school is aided by
the State Governmetn or not.

13. There is no other provision in the
U.P. Municipal Corporation Act, 1959, nor
any reliance has been placed upon any
other provisions of law or Government
Order, which takes away the exemption
provided by Section 177 (c) of the Act to
the buildings solely used as school.

14. For the aforesaid reasons, we find
that the building of 'Holy Trinity School',
used solely for the purposes of school,
even if it is not getting any aid from the
State Government is exempt from payment
of house tax. The exemption under Section
177 (c) of the U.P. Municipal Corporation
Act, 1959, is not qualified, or conditional
and thus the school is not liable to pay any
house tax.

15. The writ petition is allowed. The
impugned assessment and the bill of house
tax and the order dated 28.10.2002 passed
by the Tax Superintendent, Nagar Nigam,
Allahabad is set aside. This judgment will
be operative only on the assessment and
demand of house tax, and will not be
applicable for any other tax or charges
levied by Nagar Nigam or any other
statutory body for taxes, fees or service
charges.
---------
ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
CIVIL SIDE
DATED: ALLAHABAD 23.04.2012

BEFORE
THE HON'BLE P. K. SINGH BAGHEL, J.

Civil Misc. Writ Petition no. 3625 of 2010

Om Prakash Yadav

 ...Petitioner
Versus
State of U.P. and others ...Respondents

Counsel for the Petitioner:
Sri Siddharth Khare
Sri Ashok Khare

Counsel for the Respondents:
C.S.C.

U.P. Police Officer Subordinate Rank
(Punishment and Appeal Rules 1991)
Section-Rule-2 (2) (b)-petitioner was
engaged as Police Constable-dismissed
by evoking power dispensed with formal
enquiry-without recording any reason for
not practicable to hold formal enquirywithout
recording
any
reason
for
satisfaction-about not practicable to hold
formal
enquiry-pertaining
to
appointment
based
upon
forged
certificate-case
does
not
fall
under
exception
of
Jaswant
Singh
Casedismissal order quashed.

Held: Para 14

What
emerges
from
the
above
mentioned cases is that the recording of
the reason is a condition precedent for
invoking Rule 8(2)(b) of the 1991 Rules
and the reasons must be genuine to the