GANGESHWAR PRASAD,J. - (1.) JUDGEMENT These nine Special Appeals have been filed by the Municipal Board of Kanpur (hereinafter referred to as the Board) against the judgments of a learned Single Judge of this Court in nine writ petitions filed by the Board. All the writ petitions raised identical questions and they were all dismissed by the learned Judge for reasons given in his judgment in writ petition No. 1451 of 1959 which has given rise to Special Appeal No. 407 of 1959. All the Special Appeals are, therefore, being disposed of by a common judgment.
(2.) THE Board, which was functioning under an Administrator, assessed respondent No. 2 of each of these appeals to a tax on the annual value of certain buildings and lands. Against the assessment, the said respondents (hereinafter referred to as the assessee) preferred appeals under section 160 of the U. P. Municipalities Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) before Sri A. P. Misra, Additional Commissioner, Kanpur, who had been appointed as the appellate authority by the State Government through a notification which was as follows :- "Section A Municipal January 2, 1958 No. 5077-B/XI-C-192-57. In supersession of notification No. 4501-B/XI-C-192-57, dated November 23, 1957 and in partial modification or notification No. 4396(a)-P/XI-B-l82-50, dated August 31, 1956, the Governor has, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of Section 160 of the U. P. Municipalities Act 1916, read with item (ii) of the Schedule appended to the U. P. Local Bodies (Adaptation of Laws) Order. 1953 published with notification No. 4613/XI-B-7 (Kabal)-58, dated December 18, 1953, been pleased to empower Sri A. P. Misra, Additional District Magistrate, Kanpur, to entertain appeal as specified in sub-section (1) of the said section in respect of the Municipal Board, Kanpur. By Order. B. D. Sanwal, Sachiv." It will be noticed that the notification described Sri A. P. Misra as Additional District Magistrate Kanpur, and not as Additional Commissioner Kanpur, but it is admitted that this was a mistake and that the mistake was rectified by the State Government through a corrigendum. Sri A. P. Misra heard the appeals and by his orders dated January 31, 1959, he reduced the amount of tax in the case of each of the assessees. It was against the said orders of Sri A. P. Misra Additional Commissioner Kanpur, that the writ petitions giving rise to these appeals were filed by the Board and the prayer was that the orders passed by Sri A. P. Misra be quashed. The contentions raised by the Board before the learned Single Judge were three: firstly, Sri A. P. Misra was not a duly appointed authority for entertaining appeals under sub-section (2) of section 160 of the Act; secondly, Sri A. P. Misra acted without jurisdiction in taking evidence in appeal as he did; and thirdly, the appeals were not decided by Sri A. P. Misra on correct principles. All these contentions were rejected by the learned Judge and the petitions were dismissed. Before us, Sri S. C. Khare, the learned counsel for the Board, emphasised only the first of the abovementioned three contentions, and it is essentially that contention which we have to examine in these appeals.
(3.) SECTION 160 of the Act, which provides for appeal against taxation, runs as follows :- "(1) In the case of a tax assessed upon the annual value of buildings or lands or both an appeal against an order passed under sub-section (3) of Section 147, and, in the case of any other tax an appeal against an assessment, or any alteration of an assessment, may be made to the District Magistrate or to such other officer as may be empowered by the State Government in this behalf. (2) Provided that where a board has been superseded under Section 30 and the District Magistrate has been appointed under clause (b) of Section 31 or where an Administrator has been appointed under Section 3 of the U. P. Local Bodies (Appointment of Administrators) Act. 1953, to exercise and perform the powers and duties of the Board, the appeal shall lie to such authority as may be prescribed." It is not in dispute that, by virtue of the provisions of the U. P. Local Bodies (Adaptation of Laws) Order, 1953 referred to in notification quoted above, sub-section (2) of Section 160 of the Act, under which the notification purports to have been issued, is applicable to the Board. The point which, on the argument advanced by Sri S. C. Khare, needs determination is whether the issue of the notification fulfilled the requirement of sub-section (2) of Section 160 of the Act and had the effect of constituting Sri A. P. Misra the appellate authority under the said provision. ;