S.N.ANDLEY, J. - (1.) The writ petition and the Letters Patent appeals cams up for hearing before a Division Bench of this Court. The Division Bench felt that several Supreme Court decisions and two Division Bench decisions of this Court had to be considered and they referred these matters to a Full Bench. This judgment will cover all these matters.
(2.) The writ petition is concerned with a property situate in Jor Bagh in New Delhi within the juristiction of the New Delhi Municipal Committee which is governed by the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911. The appeals are in respect of properties which are situate within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi which is governed by the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957. Properties situate within the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi or the New Delhi Municipal Committee are again governed by the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 and were even before 1958 governed by the previous Rent Restriction Acts including the Delhi and Ajmer Rent Control Act, 1952.
(3.) The facts in the appeals and the writ petition are similar. Standard Rent has not been fixed by the Rent Controller for any of these premises under the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958, or under the previous Rent Restriction Acts prevailing in Delhi. All the premises have been let out to tenants and admittedly the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, hereinafter referred to as "the Corporation", and the New Delhi Municipal Committee, hereinafter referred to as "the Committee", have assessed the annual value or rateable value on the basis of the actual rent which is being received. These assessments have been challenged on the ground that the Corporation or the Committee should not have taken the actual rent as the basis for assessment but should have proceeded to determine the standard rent of these premises in accordance with the provisions of the Delhi Rent Control Act, 1958 and should have taken such standard rent as the basis for assessment.;