Madras HC imposes Rs 75,000 cost on man for attempting to block property tax hike in Kodaikanal

MADURAI: Dismissing a plea moved by a man seeking to prevent the Kodaikanal municipality in Dindigul district from collecting enhanced property tax for his building, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently imposed a cost of Rs 75,000 on the litigant for attempting to hinder the revenue collection of a local body.

A division bench of Justices G Jayachandran and S Srimathy made the direction in a plea filed by Baskar Vincent. The judges stated that the petitioner claimed to be the owner of a residential building for which property tax was fixed as Rs 13,398.

Aggrieved over the municipality’s recent tax hike, he challenged the general revision.

The counsel of the Kodaikanal municipality stated that the local bodies provide for appeal if any assessee is aggrieved by enhancement of property tax. If at all the petitioner is aggrieved by the revision, he has to take recourse to the statutory remedy, and the public interest litigation is hence an abuse of the process of law, it stated.

On perusal of the affidavit filed in support of the writ petition, the court said that it is the “private” interest of the writ petitioner which is projected as a public interest with an intention to stall the process of collecting revenue. Under the guise of residential premises, he had converted the property in the hills of Kodaikanal into a commercial building by letting it out for homestay purposes.

By camouflaging his grievance under the garb of a PIL, an attempt is made to prevent the economic flow of the local body, the court added, before directing the petitioner to pay Rs 75,000 to the Kodaikanal municipality.