In Brief
The Akola Municipal Corporation had not revised property-tax rates for approximately 16 years. In 2017, it passed resolutions revising the property-tax assessment methodology and increasing tax rates for 2017–22. A corporator, Dr. Zishan Hussain, filed a public interest writ petition challenging the revision on procedural and fairness grounds. The Bombay High Court quashed the resolutions. The Supreme Court allowed the Corporation's appeal, holding that property-tax revision is an economic/fiscal policy decision within the Corporation's exclusive domain. Absent constitutional or statutory violation, courts cannot interfere via PIL. The Court emphasized that statutory remedies exist and that the petitioner—being a corporator—lacked true public-interest locus. The decision reaffirms judicial restraint in reviewing economic policy decisions of municipal bodies.
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