Curation Team
CHANDIGARH: The decision of the Chandigarh administration to increase or revise the property taxes on residential lands and buildings has been challenged before the Punjab and Haryana high court.
The matter reached the high court following a petition filed by Vijay Pal Singh, 76, a retired DSP and a resident of Sector-19, Chandigarh. He challenged the notification dated March 31 issued by the Chandigarh administration, which “arbitrarily” increased property taxes on residential and commercial properties, violating the provisions of the Punjab Municipal Corporation (Extension to Chandigarh) Act 1994.
According to the petitioner, the municipal corporation (MC) house already rejected the proposal to revise property taxes during its meeting on March 25, making the executive decision of the Chandigarh administration illegal and beyond its powers. The petitioner stated that the imposition of higher taxes is detrimental to the public interest, particularly to lower-income groups, and violates the principle of fairness under Article 14 of the Constitution.
It was also mentioned in the plea that, as per Section 90 (1) of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act 1994, it is the corporation that can impose or revise the property taxes. The corporation already rejected the agenda for revising the property taxes, and despite this fact, the UT administration unilaterally and arbitrarily revised the property taxes, which is totally illegal and against the provisions of the Punjab MC Act.
“The house of the municipal corporation consists of elected members, who are called MC councillors and represent the residents of their concerned ward. Hence, the house is elected as a democratic institution. As per settled law, no democratic institution can be hijacked, and the orders of the executive cannot surpass the proposal of the legislature. In the present case, the legislature herein is the board of the municipal corporation, which entertains the agenda, deliberates on it, and then finally passes it in the interest of the public as well as the corporation as a whole,” the petition contended.
