Judgment

FAZAL ALI, J. - Whether hoardings containing advertisements fixed in the premises of a railway station fronting a public street are exigible to tax under the provisions of Section 136 of the City of Bangalore Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 (Act No. LXIX of 1949) - hereinafter referred to as the Act - is the substantial question of law involved in this appeal by certificate.

2. The facts of the case lie within a narrow compass and the point raised by counsel for the appellant is one of first impression and undoubtedly requires serious consideration. The appellant is a firm of advertising commercial goods and other items by putting up hoardings containing advertisements on properties taken on lease or licence from various owners. The appellant also has been putting up hoardings on railway lands in the compound of the Bangalore Railway Station. In the instant case, we are only concerned with the hoarding containing advertisements put up adjacent to the railway compound fencing but within the railway premises by being placed on girders affixed to the earth. The fencing of the railway compound is adjacent to and faces a public street. It is also not disputed by the parties that