1. The petitioner has brought this writ petition under section 103 of the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir read with Art. 32 (2-A) of the Constitution of India against the Assessing Authority Urban Immovable Property for directing the respondent not to charge or recover by any process urban immovable property tax in regard to the petitioners properties situate in Ram Munshi Bagh Srinagar. The petitioner has averred that he owns two Banglows with land under these and appurtenant thereto at Ram Munshi Bagh in Cantonment Area. The Cantonment Act of 1924 applies to the State of Jammu and Kashmir. That in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 60 of the Cantonment Act and in partial modification of the notification of Jammu and Kashmir No. 14 dated 29-12-38 the Cantonment Board Badami Bagh has with the previous sanction of the Central Government imposed tax on all buildings and lands situate within the Badami Bagh Cantonment area payable by the owners of such buildings and lands @ 10% of annual value thereof excepting the building or land, the annual value of which is less than rupees three hundred. The annual value of the petitioners said buildings is much in excess of Rs. 300-00 and the petitioner has therefore been imposed an annual tax amounting to Rs. 4261-70 on the said properties which was being paid regularly and no tax is in arrears. The State of Jammu and Kashmir also promulgated the Jammu and Kashmir Urban Immovable Property Tax Act 1962 (hereinafter called the State Act.) Under Section 3 of the said Act the tax is charged or levied on buildings and lands situate in the rating area at such rate not exceeding 10% of the annual value. Under Section 2 rating area has been defined to be one which is administered by a local authority. The local authority has been defined in Section 2 to mean a Municipal Committee, a Cantonment Board, a Town Area Committee or other authority legally entitled to or entrusted by the Government with the control or management of a Municipal or local fund. The rating area under the State Act No. XII includes areas within a radius of 7 miles from the end of Municipal Limits. Though the Badami Bagh Cantonment Area, falls under the rating area apparently it does not and cannot fall within Srinagar City since the use of the word city excludes cantonment area for the purposes of the State Act. The local authority for the purposes of Cantonment is the Cantonment Board and not any other authority. In these circumstances if under the Cantonment Act a Cantonment Board imposes in any Cantonment area any tax which under any enactment may be imposed in any Municipality in the State where such Cantonment is situate it is evident that the operation of the State Act is excluded to the extent of Cantonment areas. It would create an anomalous and intriguing position if a similar tax could he levied with a common object by the authorities exposing an individual owning immovable property to double taxation in rating area. The State Assessing authority, therefore, in exercise of its powers and without jurisdiction has levied the urban immovable property tax in regard to the properly situate within Cantonment area. The respondent is making demand of Rs. 4254.00 as arrears of the Urban Immovable Property Tax under rule 12 (4) of the Act, and is enforcing coercive pro­cess for its realisation which as indicated above is ultra vires of the respondent. The acts of respondent amount to violation of relevant provisions of law and of the principles of natural justice. The petitioner has averred that the order of demand of tax be quashed on the ground that it exposes the petitioner to jeopardy of double taxation by two different authorities in regard to the same immovable property; that the State Act excludes from its operation the Cantonment areas ; the reading of two Acts shows that the respondent can have no power to levy tax where the Cantonment authority has exclusive power to impose tax on houses within Cantonment

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