Ram Lal Gulati, J. - (1.) This is a petition u/Art. 226 of the Constitution of India. The petitioner is a teacher in the Junior High School, Kinoni, a place situated in the rural area of the district of Muzaffarnagar, within the territorial limits of the Zila Parishad, Muzaffarnagar the respondent No. 1. In respect of the assessment year 1969 -70 the Zila Parishad imposed upon the petitioner a sum of Rs. 38.25 by way of Circumstances and Property Tax through its Kar Adhikari, Zila Parishad, Muzaffarnagar, the respondent No. 2. The tax was deducted at source out of the petitioner's salary. By this petition the petitioner has challenged both the imposition and the collection of tax.
(2.) U/S. 121 of the UP Kshettra Samiti and Zila Parishad Adhiniyam (Act No. XXXVII of 1961), the Zila Parishad is authorized to impose tax on the circumstances and property of any person residing or carrying on business in the rural area within its territorial jurisdiction. The petitioner's contention is that he neither resides nor carries on business in the rural area. He has stated that he lives in Mohalla Ariyapuri in the city of Muzaffarnagar which is a municipality and is at a distance of three miles from the school where he is a teacher. His further submission is that his employment as a teacher in the rural area does not amount to the carrying on of a business.
(3.) In the counter -affidavit of Mohammad Shafi filed on behalf of the respondents, is has been stated that the petitioner is a teacher in village Pinni and not in village Kinoni and the school at Pinni is a branch of the Junior High School of Kinoni and that both the villages are situated in the rural area. It has further been stated that the petitioner has been residing in village Pinni, where he is posted. As this averment was rather vague, this Court called upon the respondents to file a supplementary counter -affidavit to mention the exact location where the petitioner resides. According to the supplementary counter -affidavit of Sri Raghunandan Verma, who is the tax amin in the Zila Parishad, Muzaffarnagar, it appears that the petitioner is residing in one of the rooms of the school itself. Obviously there is a controversy on facts and this Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction u/Art. 226 of the Constitution cannot undertake to resolve that controversy. The first contention of the petitioner, therefore, that he is not liable to tax because he does not reside in rural area must, therefore, be rejected.;