An Urban Local Body like the Municipal Corporation or the Municipality or the Gram Panchayat, subject to statutory limitations, has absolute power to levy and collect various taxes including the property tax. If the rules are followed for determining the annual ratable value for the purpose of levying tax as provided under the statute, whether such ratable value fixed is arbitrary or not is a question of fact, and cannot be decided in a writ petition. Be it noted, the tax levied is always correlated to the ratable value as determined by the competent officer of the Municipality/Municipal Corporation. Probably visualising this, the statute has provided for an effective alternative remedy under Section 282 of the GHMC Act. Against any ratable value or tax fixed, an appeal would lie to the Court of the Chief Judge, City Civil Court, in twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, and an appeal would lie to the Court of the Senior Civil Judge elsewhere. As the dispute raised herein essentially centres round this, we are not inclined to accept the writ petition. We give liberty to the petitioner to approach the Court of the Senior Civil Judge having jurisdiction or any other jurisdictional Court and prefer an appeal against the special notice. The Writ Petition, subject to the above observations, is accordingly dismissed. The miscellaneous petitions, if any, shall also stand dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
