JUDGMENT - Dr. B.P. SARAF, J. :---The dispute in this writ petition relates to the non-agricultural assessment ('N.A. Assessment") made by the Additional Tahsildar, N.A. II, Andheri (W), Bombay in respect of land admeasuring 1608.1 sq.mtrs. comprised in TPS-II, Plot No. 27 CTS 184 of village Andheri, Taluka Andheri, District B.S.D. belonging to the petitioner which has been confirmed on appeal by Sub-Divisional Officer, Bombay Suburban District, Old Custom House, Yard, Fort, Bombay and on Revision, under section 257 of the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, by the Additional Commissioner, Konkan Division, Bombay. The petitioner has challenged the assessment mainly on two grounds :

1. That the Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, under which the assessment in question has been made, does not apply to the land in question in as much as the said land, according to the petitioner, falls within the "City of Bombay" to which the provisions of the Code are not applicable by virtue of section 1(2) thereof.

2. That, the official assessment made Rs. 25/- per 100 sq.mtrs. is not in accordance with the requirements of section 116 of the Code which restricts the power of the authority concerned while revising N.A. assessment to raise it to an amount not exceeding two times the land revenue payable immediately before the revision, if the land is used for residential buildings.

2. The admitted position is that the provisions of the Code under which the non-agricultural assessment has been made in the instant case is not applicable to the `City of Bombay'. Special provisions have been made for the land revenue in the `City of Bombay' in Chapter XIV of the Code. The land of the petitioner has been treated by all the authorities concerned as land falling outside the city of Bombay. The expression `City of Bombay' has not been defined in the Code. What falls for determination, therefore, is the true meaning of the expression `City of Bombay'. This expression has been defined in the Bombay General Clauses Act, 1904. Clause (10) of section 3 thereof defines it as under :

"City of Bombay" shall mean the area within the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court of Judicature immediately before the date on which the Greater Bombay Laws and the Bombay Higher Court (Declaration of Limits) Act, 1945, came into force."

Evidently, by this definition the City of Bombay has been restricted to the area within the Local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court of Judicature "immediately before the date on which the Greater Bombay Laws and the Higher Court (Declaration of Limits) Act, 1945, came into force". Thus, the expression "City of Bombay" has been confined only to the areas which fall within the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court prior to extension of its jurisdiction in 1945. This definition, therefore, has to be read accordingly. On the face of the specific limitation to the area put by the definition itself, the question of giving an extended meaning to this expression by interpreting it in a manner so as to include what has come to be known in course of time as `City of Bombay' or areas which got included in the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of the Bombay High Court by amendments made from time to time can not arise.

3. It may be expedient in this connection to note that in Clause (21) of section 3 of the Bombay General Clauses Act, the expression `Greater Bombay' has also been defined as below:

"Greater Bombay" shall mean the areas specified in Schedule A to the Greater Bombay Laws and the Bombay High Court (Declaration of Limits) Act, 1945 :"

This definition was inserted in the Act by Bombay Act 17 of 1945. Thus, the Bombay General Clauses Act refers to two different expressions viz., `City of Bombay' and `Greater Bombay' and separately defines each one of them. The expression "Greater Bombay" apparently c

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