The deposit of tax is a mandatory requirement for filing an appeal against an assessment order under Section 169 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957.

( 1 ) THIS petition under Article 227 of the Constitution is by the owner of property bearing No. 4d/62, Old Rajinder Nagar. New Delhi, against the order dated Jan, 21,1987, of the learned Addl. District Judge, Delhi, whereby he directed issue of notice of appeal filed by the petitioner under Section 169 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 (for short the Act,) on the petitioner depositing the amount of the property tax as required under Section 170 of the Act.

( 2 ) THE property in question was earlier owned by Ram Saroop, brother of the petitioner, who had purchased the same from the Ministry of Rehabilitation, Govt. of India, New Delhi. The petitioner purchased this property from his brother. This sale deed is dated March 10, 1978. The petitioner thereafter, it appears, reconstructed whole of the property. It is now storeyed house and the plot of land underneath measures 85. 9 sq. yds.

( 3 ) A notice under Section 126 of the Act was issued to the petitioner and the Deputy Assessor and Collector assessed the rateable value of the property at Rs. 21,060. 00 with effect from 1. 4. 1979 and Rs. II,130. 00 with effect from 1. 4. 1984. He took into account the fact that certain portion of the property had been let out and the rate of rent was taken to be the standard rent for a period of 5 years under the provisions of the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958. In this petition, it is not necessary for me to go into the merits of the controversy between the parties if the order of the Dy. Assessor and Collector, which has been challenged in appeal by the petitioner, is in accordance with law, though the petitioner has contended that value of the land at the commencement of the construction has been wrongly fixed and allowances for certain deductions have not been given. It is also not the case of the petitioner that the order directing him to deposit the property tax would cause him undue hardship and that he was not in a position to deposit the same. The whole basis of attack is that the learned Addl. District Judge could not have directed him to deposit the property tax and made it a condition precedent for issuing notice of appeal to the respondent Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

( 4 ) MR. Chandhiok, learned counsel for the petitioner, in support of the petition has contended that the learned Addl. District Judge ignored the provisions of Section 457 of the Act which provided that procedure as given in the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 (for short the Code ) relating to appeals would be applicable, and particularly he REFERRED TO to rule 5 of Order 41 of the Code. Under this rule, the court could grant stay of the order appealed against on sufficient cause being shown whether on conditions or without. It was submitted that the learned Addl. District Judge did not at all advert to these provisions which gave him ample jurisdiction to stay the operation of the order of the Deputy Assessor and Collector when in the circumstances of the case the order suffered from various infirmities and could not stand even a moment s scrutiny. I do not think Mr. Chandhiok is quite correct on this submission of his as I feel the order of the Deputy Assessor and Collector is not bad on the face of it. Whether the contentions of the petitioner are accepted or not is a different matter altogether and this would be for the Addl. District Judge who is seized of the appeal, to decide. Section 170 of the Act which imposes conditions of right to appeal may be reproduced hereunder :-

"170. No appeal shall be heard or determined under section 169 unless- (a) the appeal is, in the case of a property tax, brought within thirty days next after the date of authentication of the assessment list under section 124 (exclusive of the time relevant requisite for obtaining a copy of the entries therein) or, as the case may be, within thirty days of the date on which an amendment is finally made under section 126, and, in the case of any other tax, with