LexBIDHANNAGAR (SALT LAKE) WELFARE ASSON versus CENTRAL VALUATION BOARD AND ORS.
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BIDHANNAGAR (SALT LAKE) WELFARE ASSON
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CENTRAL VALUATION BOARD AND ORS.
MAY 18,2007
(S.B. SINHA AND MARKANDEY KA TJU, JJ.]
West Bengal Central Valuation Board Act, 1978-Amendment by West
Bengal Central Valuation Board (Amendment) Act, 1994:
Constitutionality of-Held the Act of 1994 unconstitutional being
violative of Article 14 of Constitution of India, 1950-Amendments took
away right of assessee of a pre-decisional hearing and did not provide for
any effective hearing; review of valuation was provided but it was ineffective
remedy as Review Committee was not bound to follow principles of natural
D justice and assign reasons, inspite of it being a quasi judicial body; it was
more so as before taking recourse to review, a pre-deposit had to be made--
Review Committee consisted of authorities of Municipality and officers of
Board alone, whereas it should have been independent of both keeping in
view that its power was curtailed to 25% of valuation made by Board,
decision on valuation was that of Board itself and jurisdiction of civil court
E was barred, leaving open only remedy of judicial review which in view of
nature of disputed questions of fact, was very limited.
Valuation of land and buildings-Methodology-Constitutionality of-
Held-Valuation was a complex exercise requiring certain amount of expertise,
F and in determination thereof, it is not expected of a statutory authority to
take recourse to arbitrary, unscientific or haphazard course of action-On
facts, held that though proviso to Section 9 of 1978 Act, added by 1994 Act,
provided for valuation by a Valuer-Surveyor Grade I or II, Municipality
recruited casual employees to make door to door survey of properties and
on date collected there from valuation was determined by Board; those
G employee were neither experts nor trained, their qualifications were not
known, on what basis they could determine valuation of buildings and lands,
and who supervised their work was not disclosed-As a result of such
unscientific study valuation increasing ranging from 3954% to 137% resulting
in exorbitant increase in tax on public, which itself was indicative of
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BIDHANNAGAll (SALT LAKE) WELFARE ASSON 1•. CENTRAL VALUATION BOAllD
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arbitrariness, and hence, violative of Article I 4 of Constitution of India, A
1950.
Members of the appellant association are occupiers of lands and
buildings situated within the territorial limits of a Municipality. Their annual
valuation for the purpose of assessment of municipal tax is governed by the
West Bengal Municipal Act, 1993. In terms of Section 110 thereof, it was to B
be determined by the Central Valuation Board established under the West
Bengal Central Valuation Board Act, 1978. It provided under Section 10(3)
that upon publication of the draft valuation list, objections were to be invited
and, if filed, considered by the Board upon giving an opportunity of hearing
in that behalf. Section 11 provided for publication of the final valuation list C
together with the amount of consolidated rate payable. Section 12 provided
that the Board could amend the valuation list at any time before the date
specified for filling objections under Section 10(2). Section 15 provided that
for hearing review applications, the State Government was to constitute
committee consisting of two members, the President thereof had to possess
the prescribed qualifications and the other member had to be one of the D
Councilors concerned. Section 15(3) gave a plenary power to review committee
to confirm, reduce, enhance or annul the valuation of land or building.
West Bengal Central valuation Board (Amendment) Ad, 1994, inter
a/ia, made following changes to Act of 197S-{i) a proviso was added to Section
9 stating that the Board may, in accordance with a resolution in that behalf, E
and with the previous approval of the State Government, require a valuer-
surveyor grade I or II, to make, subject to such conditions as may be
prescribed, the general valuation of lands and buildings under its
superintendence, direction and control on payment of such remuneration as
it may determine, and every such valuation shall be deemed to have been made p
by the Board; {ii) Sections 10 and 12 were deleted; (iii) Section 15 was amended
to empower Municipality to constitute Review Committee; each of them to be
presided by the Chairman or the Vice-Chairman of the Municipality and
consisting of two CouncillExcerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.