IMPORTANT POINT
The court ruled that tax can only be collected for amounts adjudicated before the invalidation of the Rajasthan Land Tax Act, 1985.

JUDGMENT :

(Pushpendra Singh Bhati, J.)

1. Since all the instant petitions involve a common controversy though with marginal variation in the contextual facts, therefore, for the purposes of the present analogous adjudication, the facts and the prayer clauses are being taken from the above-numbered D.B. Civil Writ Petition No. 2183/2003, while treating the same as a lead case; rival submissions of the parties and the observations of the Court, in the present judgment, would also be based, particularly, on the factual matrix of the lead case.

1.1. The prayer clauses read as under:-

“It is, therefore, respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of Mandamus, Certiorari or any other appropriate writ, order or direction; and

(i) quash the notice Annexure-1, Assessment order Annexure-3 and quash the assessment proceedings conducted by respondent No.4 and the demand of land tax raised pursuant to these assessment proceedings be also quashed; and

(ii) consequently a direction may be issued to the respondents to refund the amount of land tax recovered from the petitioner after 30.08.1991 in the name of land tax, with interest @ 24% per annum from the date of deposit till the date of refund within a given time; or

(iii) in the alternative the respondents may be directed to issue necessary orders within a given time for adjustment of the amount of land tax recovered from the petitioner after 30.08.1991 with interest @ 24% against the future payments of dead rent/royalty in respect of mining lease held by the petitioner; and

(iv) any other appropriate writ, order or direction which the circumstances of the case may warrant be also passed; and

(v) the petitioner be awarded the costs of this writ petition.”

2. Brief facts of the case, as placed before the Court by Mr.Vikas Balia, learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. D.D. Thanvi, Mr. Amit Vyas and Mr. Sachin Saraswat, are that the Rajasthan State Legislature enacted the Rajasthan Land Tax Act, 1985 (hereinafter referred to as ‘Act of 1985’) imposing tax pertaining to the lands situated in area(s) other than the urban area(s) in the State of Rajasthan, which are extensively being put to use inter alia for the purposes of excavating or extracting ores or minerals so as to augment the revenue of the State. In this regard, the Legislature also framed the Rajasthan Land Tax Rules, 1985 which came into force w.e.f. 01.08.1985.

2.1. The constitutional validity of the Act of 1985 was challenged before the learned Single Judge of this Hon’ble Court by the petitioner and others by way of bunch of writ petitions, which were dismissed; the said judicial determination upon being challenged before the Division Bench of this Hon’ble Court at Jaipur Bench, was upheld. Subsequently, the constitutional validity of the Act of 1985 was challenged before the Hon’ble Apex Court in the case of Federation of Mining Associations of Rajasthan v. State of Rajasthan, (Civil Appeal No. 4287 of 1988, decided on 30.08.1991), wherein the Hon’ble Apex Court held that the said enactment, insofar as it purports to levy a tax on ‘mineral bearing lands’, is ultra vires and void. However, it was observed that any tax collected under the statute so far need not be refunded by the State Government, and if any amount of tax remains to be paid in respect of earlier periods, it will have to be paid by the assessee(s).

2.2. In pursuance of the aforesaid judgment, the Respondent No.4-Assessing Authority, issued the demand notices to the petitioner, demanding the land tax which was due for the period prior to 30.08.1991. The action of issuance of such notices was challenged before this Hon’ble Court, which was transferred to the Rajasthan Taxation Tribunal, and decided vide its majority judgment dated 06.12.1996; whereby the learned Tribunal quashed the demand notices so made, and at the same time, directed the assessing authorities concerned to proceed afresh with the assessment of tax after issuing notice(s) under