( 1 ) THIS judgment would dispose of S. C. A Nos. 55/75. 56/75 and 57/75.

( 2 ) BY these applications under Article 133 (1) of the Constitution of India, the New Delhi Municipal Committee seeks leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against our judgment accepting the petitions of the States of Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India challenging the validity of the imposition of house-tax by the Committee on the immovable properties belonging to the States within its territorial limits.

( 3 ) THE principal question that these petitions raised for our consideration was whether the immovable properties belonging to the States situated in New Delhi were immune from house-tax leviable under the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, as applicable to Delhi, by virtue of the exemption granted to the property of a State from "union taxation" by Article 289 (1) of the Constitution of India. The subsidiary Question that arose for consideration was as to whether the expression "state" in clause (4) of Article 246 of the Constitution of India meant and included the Union Territories or not.

( 4 ) ON the principal ques