JUDGMENT

ORDER :—Heard the learned Additional Solicitor General.

2. The impugned judgment by a Full Bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court overrules the decision of a Division Bench in Municipal Corporation. Indore v. Smt. Ratnaprabha Dhanda. Indore, 1989 MPLJ 20. The challenge in this special leave petition is to the correctness of the Full Bench decision. The question involved relates to the construction of Section 138(b) of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 (for short the "M.P. Act") which reads as under :-

"The annual value of any building shall notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force be deemed to be the gross annual rent at which such building, together with its appurtenances and any furniture that may be let for use or enjoyment therewith might reasonably at the time of assessment be expected to be let from year to year,less any allowance of ten per cent for the cost of repairs and for all other expenses necessary to maintain the building in a state to command such gross annual rent." (Emphasis supplied)

3. In the High Court the matter was not res integra being concluded by the authority of the direct decision by a 3-Judge