In Brief
N.C.K. Tourist Home, a shopping complex owner in Kozhikode, challenged the municipal corporation's show cause notice revising its property tax within one year of the general five-yearly assessment. The High Court upheld the revision relying on Rule 2A of the Taxation Rules. The Supreme Court held that although Section 238 of the Kerala Municipalities Act, 1994 permits rules, Rule 2A's two-half-year revision period contradicts the statute's substantive requirement of quinquennial assessment and is therefore ultra vires. The notice was also invalid as it lacked reasons justifying revision before five years. The appeal was allowed and the revision set aside.
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