JUDGMENT :

ANIL R. DAVE, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. Being aggrieved by the Judgment dated 21.9.2011 delivered by the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad in Second Appeal No.781 of 2011, the appellant Nagar Palika has approached this Court by way of this appeal.

3. The facts giving rise to the present litigation in a nutshell are as under :

The respondents, who claim to be residing outside the municipal limits of Nagar Palika Thakurdwara, District Moradabad, filed a Civil Suit being OS No.13 of 1994 against the appellant in the court of Civil Judge (Junior Division), Thakurdwara, praying for the following reliefs :

“(a) That the defendant no.1 be restrained by decree of permanent injunction that they remain restrained from recovery of alleged house tax of Rs.6760/- regarding crusher in question, present building no.319 and calendaring factory building no.320 and shops in question, building no.321 to 332 respectively which are outside the limits of municipality and situated in village Fatehullah Ganj in property owned by Plaintiff nos.2 and 3 situated in village Fatehullah Ganj and from recovery of Rs.4,246.07 amount described in the recovery certificate or more by itself or its agent defendant no.2 or by any other medium or be restrained from imposing any house tax till the pronouncement of the properties in question to be within the limits of municipality by the Government in either years.

(b) That the defendant no.1 be ordered to give the cost of the present suit to the plaintiff(s).

(c) That the relief which is fit in the opinion of the Hon’ble Court in favour of the plaintiff(s) be granted.”

Thus, the case of the respondents was that their premises were not within the municipal limits of the appellant Nagar Palika and therefore, the Nagar Palika had no right to levy any tax on the said properties of the respondents and therefore, the appellant be restrained from recovering tax in respect of the said properties from the respondents. The respondents had also impliedly prayed for a declaration to the effect that they were not liable to pay any tax to the appellant Nagar Palika under the provisions of the Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Act, 1916 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’).

4. Written Statement was filed by the appellant stating that the premises of the respondents were very much within the municipal limits of the Nagar Palika and the said fact was also known to the respondents as respondent no.1 had also contested an election for being a President of the appellant Nagar Palika. Moreover, it was also the case of the appellant that the suit was not maintainable in view of the provisions of Sections 143 and 160 of the Act.

5. The said suit was dismissed and therefore, the respondents preferred first appeal, being Civil Appeal No.30 of 2008, before the Court of Additional District Judge, Moradabad, which was allowed by a judgment dated 19.7.2011.

6. Being aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment dated 19.7.2011, the appellant filed Second Appeal No.781 of 2011, which has been dismissed by the High Court by virtue of impugned judgment and therefore, this appeal has been filed by the appellant.

7. The short reason for which the appeal filed by the appellant has been dismissed by the High Court is that the claim in the second appeal was less than Rs.25,000/- and by virtue of the provisions of Section 102 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, no second appeal would lie from any decree when the subject matter of the original suit is for recovery of money not exceeding Rs.25,000/-.

8. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant submitted that the High Court committed an error by not considering the fact that the suit had been filed seeking permanent injunction, praying that the appellant Nagar Palika should be restrained from recovering any tax under the Act from the respondents as the properties belonging to the respondents were situated beyond the municipal limits of the appellant Nagar Palika.

9. The learned counsel further submitted that th