Shivani Gadhavi
Published On: January 12, 2022 at 17:12 IST
The Kerala High Court recently nullified Rule 9(4A) and Rule 9(4C) of the Kerala Municipality (Property Tax, Service Tax and Surcharge) Rule that lays out fixation of property tax at a minimum rate of 25% over the rate that was affixed for the previous year.
Justice N. Nagaresh of the Kerala High Court ruled the judgment while he disposed off a Writ Petition filed by K P Mohammed Asharaf from Kannur, who challenged the validity of the aforementioned rules that prescribed property tax fixation.
The Judge declared that these rules were acting beyond the legal capacity of the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994.
The Kerala High Court observed that under the Section 233(2)(a) of the Kerala Municipality Act, 1994, the Government has the authority to and should, by the mode of a notification, fix the minimum and maximum limits of the rates for basic property tax that would be applicable to one square meter plinth area of the categories of building within its use and the date that the rules would come into effect.
The Judge also brought it to attention that the Section 233(4) does not provide for people to assume that the 25% increase on the already existing tax levied on the annual value of building would be provided during the fixation of the property tax under Section 233(3) of the Kerala Municipality Act.