The subject of this appeal is a complaint by the appellant company (the Bengal Nagpur Railway Company) in respect of the assessment to the consolidated rate of a piece of land, situate in the city of Calcutta, of which it is the owner. The complaint is that the land has been valued on a wrong principle and at an excessive rate. The plot in question is about 13 bighas in extent and is known as No. 10-b, Garden Reach Road. It was bought by the company in 1926, not for present use, but to be kept in reserve against the company’s future requirements. It is described as follows in the petition for leave to appeal to His Majesty in Council:-

“The said land is vacant and is occasionally used by members of Railway Officers’ Club for practice of the game of golf. It is not a regular golf course, having only four holes upon it.”

Before setting out the facts, it is necessary to refer to the relevant provisions of the Calcutta Municipal Act, 1923, in order that the point in dispute may be appreciated.

The method of ascertaining the annual value of land is prescribed by section 127 of the Act. Its material words are:

“The annual value of land.....shall be deemed to be the gross annual rent at which the land .... might at the time of assessment reasonably be expected to let from year to year.”

The Act imposes a liability to pay rates not only on the occupier, but on the owner of land. Section 149 provides that:

“one-half of the consolidated rate shall be payable by the owners of the lands .... and the Other half by the occupiers thereof.”

Thus, if land is unoccupied, the owner pays one-half of the full rate on the annual value. He may, in certain conditions, obtain relief which will reduce his burden

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---------------- (1947) 2 M.L.J. 106 at page 107 ----------------

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to one quarter of the full rate. This result is produced by the provision made in section 151 for the case of land "which has been assessed to the consolidated rate" and" has remained unoccupied and unproductive of rent for a period of sixty or more consecutive days." If due notice is given to the executive officer,

"he shall (a) remit one-half of the owner’s share of the consolidated rate due on account of such period, or, (A) if the whole of such share has been paid, refund, on application made therefor, one-half of such share."

There is a proviso that when any land (with certain immaterial exceptions)

"which in the opinion of the Corporation is suitable for a building site, is not adequately utilized for such a purpose for a period of more than three years", the right to remission shall cease on the expiration of that period unless exemption from the proviso is granted by the Corporation on certain defined grounds.

In the present case the Corporation has been willing to regard the appellant company as the owner of unoccupied land, and to permit it to take advantage of the provisions of section 151. It is desirable, however, to refer to section 3 (the "definition" section), for the light which it throws on the meaning of the word "occupier," which is stated to include

"an owner living in, or otherwise using, his own land .... and also a rent-free tenant."

Under section 131 of the Act a revaluation is made every six years. At the time of the general revisional valuation of 1931-1932, the appellant company successfully applied for the separate valuation of the plot in question which had previously been included in a larger parcel of land on which there were some small buildings. The avowed object of this application was to obtain a remission under section 151, and this was eventually granted with effect from the 1st July 1933. At the 1937-1938 valuation the annual value of 10-b, Garden Reach Road was determined to be Rs. 22,485, on the footing that the hypothetical tenant would take the land as unoccupied or vacant land,