M/S. Farinni Leather Private Limited And ANR. v. The Kolkata Municipal Corporationand ORS.

15.11.2022 d.p.

In The High Court At Calcutta Constitutional Writ Jurisdiction Appellate Side W.P.A 19778 of 2022 M/s. Farinni Leather Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.

-versus The Kolkata Municipal Corporation & Ors.

Mr. Sandip Kumar De, Mr. Shayak Mitra, Mr. Abhijit Sarkar, Mr. Abhik Chitta Kundu.

...For the Petitioners.

Mr. Biswajit Mukherjee, Mr. Subhrangshu Panda.

...For KMC.

Mr. Susanta Pal, Mr. Tanjir Ali.

...For the Respondent No.6.

The matter relates to the Premises No. 21/5, Pottery Road, Kolkata-700015.

The petitioners are aggrieved by the Letter of Intimation dated 4th March, 2022 intimating the petitioners the amount to be paid on account of property tax in respect of the said premises. According to the petitioners, the amount mentioned in the said Letter of Intimation is exorbitant.

The petitioners mutated the property in its name in the year 2010 after paying all the dues on account of property tax.

The petitioners contend that the Corporation ought not to have raised supplementary bills in respect of the period for which the property tax has already been cleared.

It appears that the impugned Letter of Intimation clearly mentions that objection within a prescribed time period may be raised if the amount is not admitted. The petitioners without filing any objection before the concerned authority approached this Court directly for relief.

The earlier writ petition filed by the petitioners challenging similar Letter of Intimation being WPA 27489 of 2014 stood dismissed for default on 20th September, 2022. A part of the dues as indicated in the impugned Letter of Intimation was also impugned in the earlier writ petition.

Nevertheless, as the earlier writ petition was not decided by the Court and adjudication has not been made to the dispute raised before this Court, and the amount which was impugned in the earlier bill is a part of the Letter of Intimation impugned in the present writ petition, accordingly, it will be open for the petitioners to file appropriate objection before the Chief Manager (Revenue), Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

In the event such an objection is filed within 30th November, 2022 along with documents in support of the claim of the petitioners, the said objection shall be considered by the Chief Manager (Revenue), Kolkata

Municipal Corporation in accordance with law after giving a reasonable opportunity of hearing to the petitioners.

A reasoned order shall be passed and communicated to the petitioners immediately thereafter.

The aforesaid respondent shall consider the objection filed by the petitioners at the earliest, but positively within a period of eight weeks from the date of filing the objection before the aforesaid authority. The writ petition stands disposed of.

Urgent photostat certified copy of this order be supplied to the parties, if applied for, as early as possible.

( Amrita Sinha, J.)