Alfred Henry Lionel Leach, C.J.

1. In 1931 the village of Ernavur was added to the jurisdiction of the Panchayat Board of Thiruvothiyur. The respondent company has a match factory in Ernavur and when the village came within the jurisdiction of the Panchayat Board the factory buildings were assessed to house-tax the amount of the tax collected being Rs. 2,588-8-3. The respondent company challenged the validity of the action of the Panchayat Board and filed a suit in the Court of the District Munsif of Poonamallee to recover what it had been compelled to pay. The District Munsif held that the tax had been illegally levied and rejected the contention of the Panchayat Board that the suit did not lie because it had not been filed within the period allowed by Section 225 of the Madras Local Boards Act, 1920, as amended by Act XI of 1930. The District Munsif considered that the period of limitation imposed by that section only applied to suits for compensation or damages. The Subordinate Judge of Chingleput upheld the decision of the District Munsif on both points on appeal. The Panchayat Board then filed a second appeal to this Court. The appeal was heard by Burn and Lakshmana Rao