JUDGMENT

This order will dispose of C.A. 2377 and 2379 (2378) of 1980 and S.L.P. (C) 10376 of 1981. C.As. 2377 and 2378 of 1980 have been filed against two separate judgments of the learned single Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court dated 2-3-1979 by the Indore Municipal Corporation.

2. The impugned order in C.A. 2377 of 1980 was passed in Civil Miscellaneous Petition No. 781 of 1974 filed by Gujarati Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. v. The Indore Municipal Corporation and the impugned order in C. A. 2378 of 1980 was passed in Miscellaneous Petition No. 253 of 1974 filed by the Madhya Pradesh Awas Samasya Nivaran Sanstha v. The Indore Municipal Corporation.

3. The S.L.P. (C) No. 10376 of 1981 has been filed by M/s. M.T. Cloth Market Merchants Association against the Indore Municipal Corporation and others against the judgment of a division bench of the High Court dated 25-8-1981 in Miscellaneous Petition No. 172 of 1980 (reported in AIR 1982 Madh Pra 180). The Division Bench in the impugned judgment approved the decision of the single Judge which is subject matter of C.A. 2378 of 1980 but dissented from the decision of the same learned single Judge, which is the subject matter of C.A. 2377 of 1980.

4. Heard. Special leave granted.

In C.A. 2377 of 1980 the order impugned, on behalf of the respondents in the writ petition, was a bill dated 26th October, 1971 (filed in annexure-J to the writ petition) and a demand notice dated 14-8-1973 (filed as annexure-M to the writ petition) by which a demand for payment of lighting rate and drainage tax had been made by Indore Municipal Corporation from petitioner No. 2, Gaya Prasad Sahu in the writ petition in respect of house No. 25, Mohalla Vallabh Nagar, Indore for the period commencing from 1971-72. In the aforesaid bill dated 26th October, 1971 the demand related to lighting rate and drainage tax for the year 1971-72 (see page 30 of the paper book) and demand notice dated 14-8-1973 inter alia related to lighting rate and drainage tax in respect of arrears and current dues up to 31-3-1974 (see pages 36-37 of the paper book). These taxes have been levied under Section 132 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The learned single Judge quashed the demand on the ground that the basis of the demand were illegal. The demand for lighting rate and drainage tax had been made on the basis of annual letting value of the writ petitioners property calculated in accordance with the annual letting values prepared by the State Government under the provisions of Madhya Pradesh Sthawar Sampatti Kar Adhiniyam 1964 (hereinafter referred to as the Adhiniyam) and not in accordance with the mode prescribed in Section 138 of the Act even though those taxes have been imposed under Section 132 of the Act. It was held that the drainage tax and lighting rate under the Act is to be assessed in accordance with the annual letting value determined under Section 138 of the Act and that the assessment of the said rate and tax with reference to the annual value determined under the Adhiniyam was illegal and consequently the bill served on the writ petitioner was liable to be quashed. On this ground the aforesaid demands made in annexures-J and M (as filed in the writ petition) were quashed by the learned single Judge. On the same basis the impugned order dated 2-3-1979 in C.A. No. 2378, was passed by the learned single Judge where the writ petition was filed to quash a demand No, 855 dated 8-2-1974 (annexure-H to the writ petition) in relation to general sanitary cess made by the Indore Municipal Corporation from the writ petitioner No. 2, Laxman Das in respect of House No. 121, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Indore for the period commencing from 1973-74. The general sanitary cess had been levied at the rate of 2 per cent on the annual letting value of the house property under Section 132(1)(c) of the Act which enabled the Corporation to impose general sanitary cess for the con