- (1.) This batch of appeals arises out of judgment dated October 9, 1980 passed by the Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court holding that Section 406(2)(e) of the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949 in its application to Ahmedabad in the State of Gujarat was a valid piece of legislation. Section 406 of the Act we may set out here and now : "406(1). Subject to the provisions hereinafter contained appeals against any rateable value or tax fixed or charged under this Act shall be heard and determined by the Judge. (2) No such appeal shall be entertained unless - (a) it is brought within fifteen days after the accrual of the cause of complaint; (b) in the case of an appeal against a rateable value a complaint has previously been made to the Commissioner as provided under this Act and such complaint has been disposed of; (c) in the case of an appeal against any tax in respect of which provision exists under this Act for a complaint to be made to the Commissioner against the demand, such complaint has previously been made and disposed of; (d) in the case of an appeal against any amendment made in the assessment book for property taxes during the official year, a complaint has been made by the person aggrieved within fifteen days after he first received notice of such amendment and his complaint has been disposed of; (e) in the case of an appeal against a tax, or in the case of an appeal made against a rateable value, the amount of the disputed tax claimed from the appellant, or the amount of the tax chargeable on the basis of the disputed rateable value, up to the date of filing the appeal, has been deposited by the appellant with the Commissioner : Provided that where in any particular case the Judge is of the opinion that the deposit of the amount by the appellant will cause undue hardship to him, the Judge may in his discretion, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he may think fit to impose, dispense with a part of the amount deposited so however that the part of the amount so dispensed with shall not exceed twenty five per cent of the amount deposited or required to be deposited."
(2.) 'Judge' is defined in Section 2(29) of the Act to mean in the City of Ahmedabad the Chief Judge of the Court of Small Causes or such other Judge of the Court as the Chief Judge may appoint in his behalf and in any other City the Civil Judge (Senior Division) having jurisdiction in the City. Section 406 suffered some amendments. In sub-section (2) for the words "shall be heard" were substituted by "shall be entertained". Proviso to clause (e) of sub-section (2) was first added by Gujarat Amendment 5 of 1970. This proviso (as it now exists) was then substituted by Gujarat Amendment 1 of 1979.
(3.) Appellants in all these appeals own properties in the City of Ahmedabad, they are liable to pay property tax which is a tax on buildings and lands in the City. Property tax is revisable every four years. When last revision took place, appellants challenged those assessments in appeals which they filed before the Judge under Section 406(1) of the Act after bills were presented by the Municipal Corporation to them. During the pendency of appeals before the Judge, appellants prayed for stay of recovery of the property tax. In view of proviso to clause (e) of Section 406(2) of the Act, the Judge could not give effective interim relief to the appellants as exemption from payment of property tax could not be more than 25% of the amount of the property tax demanded from the appellants. The appellants therefore challenged the constitutional validity of clause (e) of sub-section (2) of section 406 contending that it was violative of Art. 14 of the Constitution.;