Judgment

SAWANT,J. :- The facts leading to the common questions of law which arise in these appeals may be taken from one of the appeals. viz., Civil Appeal No. 82 of 1985. The appellant-Company holds a large parcel of land admeasuring about 2 lakh suare metres comprising 30 different survey numbers of Asarwa Ward of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. Prior to 1st August, 1976. these lands were assessed as non-agricultural lands. at the rate of 2 paise per square metre under Rule8(2) ((sic) Rule 81(2) of the Gujarat Land Revenue Rules, 1972 [the 1972 Rules] which was in force at that time. The said Rules were made under Section 214 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code, 1879 [the Code,] as applicable to the State of Gujarat. At that rate, the Company paid a total land revenue of Rs. 5,823.23 per annum. It also appears that the Company paid in addition to the land revenue local fund cess and education cess each of which was calculated at the rate of 50 per cent of the amount of the land revenue.

2. On 21st July, 1976, the State Govern(Para 22) ment published draft rules amending 1972 Rules. The principal amendment related to the rate of the assessment of the non-agricultural land whereby the erstwhile rate of 2 paise was raised to 15 paise per square metre. The amendment also classified the assessable lands on the basis of their locations, viz., whether they were in villages, towns and cities, and on the basis of the population of the area and the non-agricultural user to which the land was being put. The State Government invited objections to the draft rules before 30th July, 1976. Since no objections were received, the State Government made the draft rules final and published them on 31st July, 1976 bringing them into force w.e.f. 1st August, 1976. Several writ petitions challenging the said rules were filed in the High Court. One of the contentions in the petitions was that sufficient time was not given to raise objections to the draft rules. During the pendency of the writ petitions, the State Government on 28th June, 1977 withdrew the notification dated 31st July, 1976 issuing the final rules, and granted time of one month from 28th June. 1977 to the members of the public to object to the draft rules published on 21st July, 1977. After considering the objections received, the State Government issued a fresh notification on 24th January, 1978 issuing final rules which were brought into force with retrospective effect from 1st September, 1976 [the 1977 Rules,]. Under the 1977 Rules, the rate of assessment was increased from 2 paise to 10 paise per square metre [thus reducing the rate of assessment to 10 paise from 15 paise per square metre which was fixed under July 1976 Rules].

3. On 10th December, 1980, by an ordinance the State Government also amended S.214 of the Code to enable the Government to give the rules made thereunder a retrospective effect. The Ordinance became an Act on 24th February, 1981.

4. The writ petitions leading to the present appeals were filed before the High Court challenging the validity of 1977 Rules on various grounds. However, ultimately, only the following issues were pressed before the High Court:

"(3). Whether the impugned Amendment Rules of 1977 are bad in law and void since they seek to levy revenue on the land used for non-agricultural purposes retrospectively, that is, with effect from 1st September, 1976 without the power or authority to enact the rules retrospectively under S.214 of the Code at all the relevant times.

(4). Whether attempt to validate the levy, assessment and collection of the non-agricultural assessment by the Gujarat Ordinance No. 20 of 1980 or for that matter by the Gujarat Act No.2 of 1981 was to all intents and purposes abortive.

(5). Whether the impugned Amendment Rules of 1977 are ultra vires S. 48 and; or Section 45 and/or Section 52 of the Code.

(6). Whether the impugned Amendment Rules of 1977 are violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India inasmuch as they are a