Judgment

BHAGWATI, J. :- This group of writ petitions and appeals raise interesting questions of law in regard, to determination of rateable value of certain categories of properties situate in the Union territory of Delhi. The questions are of great importance since they affect the liability of a large number of property owners in the Union territory of Delhi to pay property tax under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 and the Punjab Municipal Act 1911. The appeals before us arise out of writ petitions filed in the High Court of Delhi challenging assessments made by the Municipal Corporation while the writ petitions fall broadly into two categories - one category consisting of writ petitions which were originally filed in the High Court of Delhi but were subsequently transferred to this Court, while the other consisting of writ petitions which were filed directly in this Court. We are definitely of the view that the writ petitions filed directly in this Court are not maintainable under Art. 32 of the Constitution since none of them complains of violation of any fundamental right and ordinarily we would have rejected them straightway without going into the merits, but the part