O R D E R

The petitioner is the first accused in S.T. No.

02/2021 on the file of the Court of the Judicial First Class Magistrate-II, Kannur (‘Trial Court’ for short), which has been registered on the basis of a private complaint filed by the second respondent alleging the commission of an offence punishable under Section 210 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act (‘Act’, for brevity) read with Rules 2, 8 and 27 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj (Taxation, Levy and Appeal) Rules (‘Rules’, in short).

2. The second respondent had issued a demand notice (Annexure A2) demanding the petitioner to pay Rs.1,13,519/- towards arrears of tax payable for the period from 2019-2020. By the said notice, the petitioner was demanded to remit the tax amount within 15 days from the date of its receipt of the notice.

3. I have heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, the learned Standing Counsel for the second respondent and the learned Public Prosecutor.

4. The learned counsel for the petitioner submits that, even if the allegations in Annexure A1 private complaint are taken on their face value, the same would not attract the offence alleged against the petitioner. He relies on Annexure A4 order pas