- (1.) The central issue involved in both these appeals is : When a building constructed upon land previously assessed to Municipal tax is demolished for construction of new building, is it open to the Municipal Corporation to assess the rateable value of the land till the construction of the building by taking the market value of the land Facts :
(2.) The facts relevant for appreciating the controversy, shortly stated, are as under : The respondent is a company whose main business was running of a textile mill known as M/s. Kamla Mills Limited in Mumbai. It owned a large area of land comprising approximately 38,000 sq. mtrs. in the city of Mumbai on which structures were standing. The entire property (i.e. land and buildings) was assessed under Ward No. G/S 1955(1) at rateable value of Rs. 3,70,505/-.
(3.) The prolonged general strike of the textile workers in Bombay affected financial position of all the textile mills in Mumbai and a policy decision was taken by the Government of Maharashtra to permit construction of residences in the industrial zone in the Bombay Metropolitan Region. As a result of the newly adopted policy, textile mills which had extensive land, and were hitherto not permitted to build thereupon, were granted permission to demolish old structures upon the land and construct residential buildings and sell them on condition that the finances thereby generated would be utilised for paying off the dues of the textile employees. Taking advantage of this liberalised industrial policy, the respondent-company demolished some of the old structures standing on a part of its land in or about June, 1995 and got plans approved for construction of a new building complex thereupon consisting of three wings A, B and C.;