C.S.P.Singh, J. - (1.) The petitioner in the present case is a company which runs a tea-estate in Dehra Dun. It was assessed to tax under the U.P. Vrihat Jot Kar Adhiniyam, 1963 by the Prescribed Authority. Both the appeal and revision, filed by the petitioner failed. The main contention raised was that the area in which the tea-plants stood was a grove and as such one-fourth of the holding was exempt under Notification No. 1634 (iii)/1-C-18/C-63 dated June 15, 1963.
(2.) The same contention has been urged before us.
(3.) Section 3 of the Vrihat Jot Kar Adhiniyam, 1963 (hereinafter referred to as the Adhiniyam) levies a holding tax on the annual value of a land holding. The word 'land holding' has been defined in Section 4 of the Adhiniyam and means the aggregate of all land held by a land holder on the first day of any agricultural year'. It is not denied by the petitioner that the tea estate is a landholding. Thus, tax was leviable on the tea estate of the petitioner. The claim for reduction of the tax is based upon a notification issued under Section 3 (3) of the Adhiniyam. Under this provision the State Government is empowered in public interest to wholly or partially exempt from holding tax any class or classes of land. In exercise of the aforesaid power the State Government issued the notification referred to earlier. Clause (9) of this notification, which is relevant for the purposes of this case, may be extracted : "Any area of a land-holding which has been planted with groves of trees other than apple, mango, graft, lichi, lukat, jaek fruit, citrus, and guava before the first day of July 1957, subject to a maximum of one fourth of the total area of the land-holding of the land-holder." It is apparent that before remission of the tax to the extent of one-fourth can be claimed the area of land in respect to which the reduction is claimed must be one which has been planted with grove of trees other than the trees mentioned in the notification. In the present case counsel has contended that the entire area is planted with trees and in the alternative it is planted with trees of other varieties which are sufficient in number to constitute a grove. At this stage it may be pointed out that the authorities below have recorded a finding that the assessee had planted 2500 tea bushes per acre and 100 trees per acre so as to provide shade to the tea bushes.;