- (1.) The appellant-Society is a charitable organisation. In 1930, it was granted a permanent lease of premises No. 1, Red Cross Road, New Delhi. Between 1975-77 the appellant constructed a building on the premises. The building consists of a basement ground floor and five floors above the ground floor. A portion of the building is used by the appellant for the purposes of its Headquarters and its various offices which include a Blood Bank, St. John's Ambulance Brigade, Maternity and Child Welfare Bureau and also the Hindkusht Nivaran Sangh. The balance portion of the building is rented out by the appellant. It is the appellant's case that the rent is utilised wholly for charitable purposes. The appellant has claimed exemption from payment of house tax in respect of the building for the years 1977-78 to the present day.
(2.) Prior to 1994, house tax in respect of properties in Delhi was imposed under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911. The Punjab Act was repealed by the New Delhi Municipal Council Act, 1994 (briefly the NDMC Act) as far as New Delhi is concerned with effect from the day that the respondent No. 1 council was established under S. 3 read with S. 416(1) of the latter Act. According to the appellant, it had, till that time, paid some amounts of money towards the demands raised by the respondent No. 1 on account of property tax and had also applied to the respondents for grant of exemption. According to the appellants, there was no response to the appellant's representation. The appellant filed a writ petition before the High Court at Delhi specifically impugning two bills raised by the Municipal Corporation dated 20-7-1990 and 31-5-1991 which were for the sums of Rs. 69,14,792.71 and Rs. 6,13,492 respectively. Interim protection was given to the appellant No. 1 by the High Court and the demands were stayed. The appellant then filed eight more writ petitions before the High Court questioning the subsequent demands on account of property tax raised by the respondent No. 1 in respect of the appellant's building. The writ petitions were heard and disposed of by the High Court by directing the appellant to make a fresh representation to the Director (Tax) of the respondent No. 1 who was required to consider and dispose of the same. Liberty was also granted to the appellant to reagitate the grounds on which the writ petitions were filed in the event the decision of the Director (Tax) went against the appellant.
(3.) The appellant made a representation pursuant to the order of the High Court. This was disposed of on 26-2-2001 by the Assistant Secretary (Tax). The Assistant Secretary noted that he was examining the claim for exemption only for the period 1991-92 to 2000-2001. The position under the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 was examined and it was found that the appellant had filed an application claiming exemption under that Act only in respect of the self-occupied portion of the building. The Municipal Committee which was the competent authority under S. 70 of the Punjab Act had resolved to grant exemption from payment of property tax under the Punjab Act in respect of the self-occupied portion of the building. The resolution of the Committee was approved by the State Government. The exemption was granted up to the year 1990-91. The order also stated that there was no application for exemption by the appellant for 1991-92 to 1993-94 as such no resolutions had been taken by the Committee.;