The Division Bench opined that the directions issued by the single-Judge, prima facie, went beyond the scope of the case at hand. Madras High Court Division Bench stays single-Judge order for constitution of Tax Committees

The Division Bench opined that the directions issued by the single-Judge, prima facie, went beyond the scope of the case at hand.
Madras High Court Division Bench stays single-Judge order for constitution of Tax Committees

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court has stayed an August 18 single-judge order that had directed the constitution of district level taxation committees, verification of property tax assessments and the publication of defaulters who fail to pay property tax.

A Bench of Justices TS Sivagnanam and Sukumara Kurup on Monday expressed reservations over whether such directions could have been issued in a writ petition that primarily concerned only the retrospective revision of property tax and the payment of surcharge by a college.

In the case at hand, the Division Bench noted that the single-Judge had dismissed the college’s writ petition “largely on the ground that there is large scale non-collection of Property Tax across the State” and given that the “High Court, being the custodian of the Constitution of India, is obligated to initiate appropriate action to ensure that the Constitutional principles and mandates are being followed.”

Further, while dismissing the writ petition, several directions were also given by the single-Judge in paragraph 31, clauses (ii) to (vi).

The Division Bench opined that, prima facie, these directions were beyond the scope of the case.

“Prima facie, we are of the view that the directions contained in Para No.31 (ii) to (vi) are beyond the scope of the writ petition and in a writ petition, not in the nature of Public Interest Litigation, the question would be whether the Writ Court can issue such directions. Therefore, we are of the view that the appellant has made out a prima facie case for entertaining this Writ Appeal,” the Division Bench said.

The Court proceeded to stay the single-judge order, while also factoring in that the College had the benefit of an interim stay earlier when the writ petition was still pending.

The order under challenge was passed last month by Justice SM Subramaniam while rejecting a plea made by SSM College of Engineering against a demand for surcharge raised by the Thattankutti Village Panchayat.