JUDGMENT

Santosh Hegde, J.-The appellant before us along with some other petitioners had filed Writ Petition Nos.4394-4410/88 before the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore contending, inter alia, that the Bangalore Development Authority (the BDA) had no sanction under Section 29 of the Bangalore Development Authority Act, (for short the BDA Act ) to levy any tax, cess or fee on the owners of lands and buildings situated outside the corporation limits of the Bangalore City Corporation. They had also contended that Section 29 of the Act was unconstitutional, ultra vires and void. A learned Single Judge who heard the said writ petition after examining the various provisions of the Act as well as the Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 (the Corporation Act) came to the conclusion that under the BDA Act, there was no inherent power to assess, impose and recover taxes, cess and fees other than the betterment tax. The court also held that the power to levy and recover taxes, cess and fees has to be expressly conferred on the BDA by the BDA Act and such power cannot be presumed by mere implication. It further held that there was no material on record to hold that the BDA has been r