ORDER :

V. Bhavani Subbaroyan, J.

1. The petitioner seeks for a issuance of a Writ of Certiorarified Mandamus to call for the records of the 1st respondent made in the proceedings bearing RC. No. B1/685/2005 dated 10.02.2021, quash the same and direct the 1st respondent to grant exemption to the petitioner under Section 27(i)(a) of Tamilnadu Urban Land Tax, 1966, [in short the 'Act'] in respect of the lands owned by the petitioner.

2. The brief facts of the case is that the petitioner is the temple being in existence for many years under the superintendence of the H.R.& C.E. Department and governed by the provisions of the Tamilnadu H.R.& C.E. Act, 1959. The petitioner-temple owns vast extent of land in and around the temple and other areas and the lands have been dedicated, gifted and endowed over the years by kings, philanthropists, devotees and donors to perform poojas and festivals of the temple and the income derived from the same is being used for these specific purposes and not for any other purpose. The petitioner-temple owns large extents of land at Tondiarpet, Vepery and Chintadripet in various survey numbers and the lands have been leased out to tenants and the rents being obtained for the lands is very low and in many cases, tenants are in huge arrears. Since the petitioner-temple is a public religious temple, the income from the said lands is used exclusively for religious purposes, due to which, the petitioner is also exempted from payment of income tax by virtue of Section 11 of the Income Tax, Act.

3. According to the petitioner, in Survey No. 3800, Block No. 57, Temple owns more than 64 grounds and there is no demand of urban land tax since the year 1980. Since the petitioner-temple is exempted from payment of Income tax by virtue of Section 11 of the Income Tax Act and in view of G.O.Ms. No. 1947 and G.O.Ms. No. 2625, the petitioner-temple should be exempted from payment of urban land tax as well. That being the factual situation, the petitioner-temple received a notice of demand dated 19.11.2004 calling upon the temple to pay urban land tax from 1385 to 1400 for a sum of Rs. 1,44,880/- Challenging the said notice, the petitioner-temple preferred W.P. No. 39606 of 2004 and the same was disposed of on 02.07.2019 directing the petitioner-temple to make an application for exemption under Section 27 of the Urban Land Tax Act and for the 1st respondent to consider the same. In consequence, an application dated 19.01.2021 was made to the 1st respondent and an enquiry was conducted and the 1st respondent had passed an order dated 10.02.2021, by which the request of the petitioner was rejected. Aggrieved against the same, the petitioner has come forward with this petition.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the authority, had passed the impugned order by not considering the Government orders with regard to the relevancy of exemption from payment of income tax under Section 11 of the Income tax Act. Further, the authority has not considered the grounds on which exemptions can be granted and has gone into the question of the tax amount as a percentage of the income of the temple. The findings in Paragraph No. 8 of the impugned order in respect of the urban land tax as a percentage of the total income is clearly erroneous, since it is the payment of tax in absolute terms that should be considered while going into the question of undue hardship to the temple.

5. The learned counsel for the petitioner contends that in the impugned order, the authority has not specified any diversion of the income from the said lands or that the same has been utilized for a purpose other than that of the religious institution. Though the temple has capabilities, certain lands are let out to tenants, the said tenants in most cases are in arrears of rent, due to which, the temple is unable to realize regular rental income. That apart, the respondents are trying to enforce the impugned order, as such, the petitioner has filed th