Advocates:
['A KASLIWAL', '', 'VAIBHAV KASLIWAL', 'ASHOK BANSAL', 'DY GA', '', 'B C CHIRANIA']

CW402/2002

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IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN

BENCH AT JAIPUR

ORDER

IN

S.B. Civil Writ Petition No.402/2002

Dr. C.S. Agarwal Vs. The Assistant

Director, Civil Line Zone, Land

and Building Tax Department, Durga

Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur and

Another

Date of Order ::: 08.05.2015

Present

Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mohammad Rafiq

Shri Vaibhav Kasliwal, counsel for petitioner

Shri B.C. Chirania, counsel for respondents

####

By the Court:-

This writ petition has been registered on

being transfer from the Rajasthan Taxation

Tribunal, where it was presented as Extraordinary

Application by Dr. C.S. Agarwal, petitioner herein.

Challenge therein was made to order of re-

assessment dated 30.08.1996 with prayer that it be

declared that the subject land and building is not

liable to be reassessed.

Facts of the case are that petitioner

submitted an application for allotment of a plot of

land measuring 334.4 square meter, being Plot No.A-

79, Shyam Nagar, Jaipur, from M/s New Pink City

Housing Cooperative Society Limited. The said

Society issued him letter of allotment upon payment

of charges for the land being Rs.3500/-. Petitioner

constructed residential building consisting of

basement, ground floor, first floor and second

CW402/2002

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floor. The total built up area of the building was

575 square meter during the financial year 1993-94.

Upon having been served with notice for assessment,

petitioner obtained valuation report determining

the value of the said structures at Rs.12,11,527/-,

and submitted the same to the Assistant Director-

cum-Assessing Officer, Land and Building Tax. The

Assistant Director-cum-Assessing Officer accepted

the valuation estimated and carried out valuation

of the land by applying the rate at Rs.1150/- per

square meter, to arrive at a figure of

Rs.3,86,232/-, and determining value of subject

land and building at Rs.15,97,800/-, and annual tax

liability of Rs.15,967/-. The Assistant Director-

cum-Assessing Officer also levied a penalty of

Rs.100/- under Section 16-A (1a) of the Rajasthan

Land and Building Tax Act, 1964 (for short, 'the

Act of 1964'). The petitioner, having been allured

by the exhortations made by the State Government in

the Department of Tourism inviting citizens to make

available paying guest accommodation to the

National and International Tourists visiting Jaipur

and that the accommodation must be in good locality

and the owner or its family must be staying in the

premises. The State Government gave assurance that

use of paying guest accommodation would not be

treated as commercial use of the building and

acting on that allured by the proposition, the

petitioner decided to make available as part of its

aforesaid accommodation to the tourist as paying

CW402/2002

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guest. Under the name and style of M/s Classic

Hotel. Out of total constructed area of 575 square

meter, the petitioner retained approximately 154.93

square meter area exclusively for his own and

family use and enjoyment, and built up area

approximately up to 170.40 square meter as common

for both residential and paying guest accommodation

nd made available approximately 278.6 square meters

of the built-up area for use of the incoming

tourists from 01.09.1996. Reliance is placed on the

guidelines issued by the Tourist Department of the

State, which has been placed on record of the writ

petition. The aforesaid development was noticed by

the Inspector of the Department, who submitted a

report stating that the petitioner had changed the

use of its land and building from residential to

commercial. The assessing officer, on the basis of

that, issued a notice under Rule 12-A contending

that the original assessment order dated 14.03.1995

was framed on the basis that the subject land was

put to residential use but that it had come to his

notice that the subject land and building were

being used f