1. Akkati Nagi Reddy v. The State of Telangana

Petition under Article 226 of Ihe Constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a Writ more particularly a Writ in the nature of a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or orders declaring the action of the Respondents in enhancing the existing rate of property tax on '1 1-12-2024 with retrospective effect to five times in respect of the Petitioners property bearing D.No.'13-6-85 with Assessment No.12'15102730 Thorrur Municipality, Mahabubabad District, thereby issuing a demand notice dated 11-12-2024 as violation of the provisions of the Telangana [/lunicipalities Act, 2019, more specifically Section 100, and the Telangana [Vl u n icipa lities (Assessment of Property Tax) Rules, 2020, more specifically Rule 5 apart from being violation of the principles of natural justice and Article 14, 21 and 300-4 o1' the constitution of lndia and consequently set aside the enhanced tax revision made and the demand notice dated 11-12-2024, further Direct the Respondents to reassess and determine the property tax payable by the Petitioner in accordance with the provisions of law and the prescribed procedure under the Telangana Municipalities Act. 2019 and the Telangana Municipalities (Assessment of Property Tax) Rules, 2020. lA NO: 'l OF 2025 Petition under section I51 CPC praying that in the circLtmstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the enhanced tax demand notice dated 11-12-2024 of the Respondent No.3 pending disposal of main w'it petition' Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI S.NAGESWARAREDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.1 & 2: GP FOR MCPL ADMN URBAN DEV Counsel for the Respondent No.3: SRI PUTTA KRISHNA REDDY' SC FOR MCPL WRIT PETITION NO: 11574 OF 2025 Between: Ramdeni Madhavi, Wo R. Balaraj, Aged 57 years, Occ. House Wife' Villa No' 3, Triton Environ Villas, Bahadurp-alli, Medchal District. ' ...PETITIONER AND 1 The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Principal Secre-tary,. Department of Municipal Administration, State Sec'retariat Buildings, Saifabad, Hyderabad' The Commissioner and Director, Municipal Administration Ciovt of Telangana, C/o 640 A C Guards Road, Masab Tank, Hyderabad, Telangana- 500 004' 3. Thorrur Municipality, Rep. by its Commissioner, Thorrur' Mahabubabad Dist , 2 Telangana. Petition under Article 226 of the constitution of lndia praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith' the High Court may be pleased to issue a Writ more particularly a Writ in the nature of a Writ of ..RESPONDENTS , L'l Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or orders declaring the action of the Respondents in enhancing the existing rate of property tax on 11-12-2024 with retrospective effect to five times in respect of the Petitioner's property bearing D.No. 13-6-82 with Assessment No. 1215102720, fhorrur Municipality, Mahabubabad District, thereby issuing a demand notice dated 11-12-2024 for payment of Rs.4,62,300/- as violation of the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, more specifically Section '100, and the Telangana Municipalities (Assessment of Property Tax) Rules, 2020, more specifically Rule 5 apart from being violation of the principles of natural justice and Anide 14,21 and 300-4 of the Constitution of lndia and consequently set aside the enhanced tax revision made and the demand notice dated 11-12-2024. further Direct the Respondents to reassess and determine the prope(y tax payable by the Petitioner in accordance with the provisions of law and the prescribed procedure under the Telangana Municipalities Act. 2019 and the Telangana Municipalities (Assessment of Property Tax) Rules, 2020. lA NO: 1 OF 2025 Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the enhanced tax demand notice dated 11-12-2024 of the Respondent No.3 pending disposal of main writ petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI S.NAGESWARAREDDY Counsel for the Respondent No.1 & 2: GP FOR MCPL ADMN URBAN DEV Counsel for the Respondent No.3: SRI PUTTA KRISHNA REDDY, SC FOR MCPL WRIT PETITION NO: 11597 OF 2025 Between:

1. Daram Prasad, S/o D. Ramulu, Aged 59 years, Occ. Business, H.No. 7-12, Thorrur Municipality, Mahabubabad Dt.

2. Bijjala Srinivas, Sio B.Somalingam, aged 56 years, Occ. Business, H.No.12- 12, Sai Nagar, Thorrur, Mahabubabad dt.

3. Mogulla Ravindranath, S/o M.Narayana, Aged 49 years, Occ. Business, H.No.1 3-94, Thorrur, Mahabubabad dt. ...PETITIONERS AND 1 The State of Telangana, Rep. by its Principal Secretilry. Department of Municipal Adminiska[ion, State Secretariat Buildings, Saifabad Hyderabad. 2 The Commissioner and Director, Municipal Administration Govt of Telangana, C/o 640 A C Guards Road, Masab Tank, Hyderabad, Telargana- 500 004.

3. Thorrur Municipality, Rep. by its Commissioner, Thorrur, lMahabubabad Dist-, Telangana. ...RESPONDENTS Petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed therewith, the High Court may be pleased to issue a Writ more particularly a Writ in the nirture of a Writ of Mandamus or any other appropriate writ or order or orders dec:laring the action of the Respondents in enhancing the existing rate of property tax on 1211212024 and 18-03-2025 with retrospective effect to five times n respect of the Petitioner's property bearing D.No. 13-6-816 with Assessment No. 1215102765 Thorrur Municipality, tvtahabubabad District, thereby issuing a demand notice dated 18-03-2025 for payment of Rs.7,99,219/- as violation of the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, more specifically Section 100, and the Telangana Municipalities (Assessment of Property Tax) Flules, 2020, more specifically Rule 5. apart from being violation of the principles of natural iustice and Article 14,21 and 300-4 of the Constitution of lndia and consequently set aside the enhanced tax revision made and the demand notice dated 18-03-2025' further Direct the Respondents to reassess and determine the property tax payable by the Petitioner in accordance with the provisions of law and the prescribed procedure under the Telangana Municipalities l\ct. 20'19 and the Telangana Municipalities (Assessment of Property Tax) Rules, 2020. lA NO:1 OF 2025 ' Petition under Section 151 CPC praying that in the circumstances stated in the affidavit filed in support of the petition, the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings pursuant to the enhanced tax demand notice dated 18-03-2025 of the Respondent No.3 pending disposal of the main writ petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: SRI S.NAGESWARAREDDY }t Counsel for the Respondent No.1 & 2: GP FOR MCPL ADMN URBAN DEV Counsel for the Respondent No.3: SRI PUTTA KRTSHNA REDDY, SC FOR MCPL The Court made the following: COMMON ORDER 3 t HONOURABLE SRIJUSTICE B. VIJAYSEN REDDY WRIT PETITION Nos.l1560 11574 AND 11597 0F 2025 COMMONORDER: (oRAL) As the subject matter in all these writ petitions is:;ame, these writ petitions are disposed of by this common order.

2. For convenience sake, W.P.No.11560 of 2025 is taken as lead case and the facts therein are referred to. (a) W.P. No.l1560 of 2025 is filed by the petitic,ners seeking to declare the action of the respondents in enhancing the existing property tax with retrospective effect in respect of the property b,:aring D.No.l3- 65-85 (Assessment No.1215102730) situated at Thomrr Municipality, Mahabubabad District, by the notice dated ll.l2.2t)24 demanding payment of enhanced property tax, as being illegal, rrbitrary and in violation of Articles 14,21 and 3004. of the Constitution of India and the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 (for short 'Act 20t9'), more specifically Section 100 of the Act 2019, and the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities (Assessmr:nt of Property Tax) Rules, 2O2O (for short 'Rules 2020'), more specifically Rule 5 of the Rules 2020. o 2 ( (b) It is stated that the petitioners are the absolute owners and possessors of the properry bearing D.No.13-65185 situated at Thomrr Municipality, Mahabubabad District, having purchased by them in the year 20l0.It is stated that the subject property underwent tax assessment periodically i.e., at the rate of Rs.23,70gl_ for the year 2021_22, Rs.22,4381- for 2022-23 and,Rs.22,440l_ for 2023_24. and the petitioners paid the same regularly fiom 2010 to 2023 and never defaulted in payment of taxes. However, with effect from 2023_24, respondent No.3 revised the annual property tax from Rs.22,440/_ to Rs.2,40,000/_ approximately per year.

3. Heard Mr. S. Nageswara Reddy, leamed counsel for the petitioners, and Mr. Putta Krishna Reddy, leamed standing counsel for Municipalities, appearing for respondent No.3, and perused the material available on record.

4. Leamed counsel for the petitioners submitted that the property tax in respect of the subject properties was enhanced without any prior notice to the petitioners. No revision notices were issued to the petitioners and all of a sudden, the impugned notices were issued demanding the petitioners to pay the qnhanced property tax with penalty. An exorbitant amount is demanded under the impugned notices. It is J submitted that the impugned notices are in violation of S':ction 100 (4) of the Act 2019 andRule 5 of the Rules 2020.

5. Learned Standing Counsel for respondent No.3 submitted that original tax assessment prior to 2023-24 was on the basis of utility of the subject property which is a School building- Subsequentll', it was found during inspection that the usable area of the School increased and thus the area utilised by the School within the compound wall was measured and revised demand notices were issued.

6. Section 100 (4) ofthe Act2}l9 reads as under: "Whenever, tax is levied for the hrst time or there is an increase in tax, the Commissioner, shall serve Notice to the property owner, giving opportunity to submit grievance within (30) days of notice, if any. For the payment of tax every year, the Commissioner shall inform the public about requirement of payment of tax through multimedia in the beginning of every half-year and also send SMS alerts through registered mobile numbers and in such cases issue of notices can be dispensed with."

7. A perusal of the impugned demand notice dated 11.12.2024 n W.P.No.ll560 of 2025 indicates the property tax prryable by the petitioners for the years 2023-24 to 2024-25 at Rs.5,35,5661-- T\e website information filed at page No.22 of the mate'rial papers in + *-- 4 W.P.No.11560 of 2025, fumished to the petitioners, indicates that the property tax was Rs.97,4911- for the first half of 2023-2024, Rs.1,19,93 1/- for the second half of 2023-2024, Rs.1,19,931/- for the first half of 2024-2025 and the same amount of Rs.1,19,931/- for the second half of 2024-2025. The total amount along with penal interest was arrived at Rs.5,63,007/-. However, at the bottom of page No.22 of the material papers, the arrears of tax is shown as Rs.2,17,422/-, current tax is shown as Rs.2,39,8621- arrd current interest is shown as Rs.28,788i-.

8. As revision of property tax from the year 2023-24 is without prior notice to the petitioners and contrary to Section 100 (4) of the Act 2019, these writ petitions are disposed of directing the respective petitioners to submit a separate representation to respondent No.3 within a period often (10) days from the date ofreceipt ofa copy ofthis order, objecting assessment of tax under the impugned demand notices and for revision of property tax appropriatety; by depositing a sum of Rs.1,50,000/- (Rupees one lakh fifty thousand only) towards tentative property tax, which shall be adjusted towards taxes/arrears as the case may be. On such repres'entation being filed by the petitioners, an enquiry shall be conducted by respondent No.3 by giving opportunity of hearing 5 to the petitioners and orders shall be passed within a peri.od of four (04) weeks from the date of such representation. No order as to costs. As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous applications, if any, pending in the writ petitior5stand closed. //TRUE COPY// SD/.MOHD. ISMAIL R ON OFFICER To, 1 2 The Principal Secretary, Department of Municip?l Aoministration' State sJI*iiliii"e..;iro-rnss, Saitaoad, Hvderabad' state of relansana' TheCommissionerandDirector.Municipa|AdministrationGovtofTelangana. ci; ffi 'A' ;6;;;dR;"d, ffi:'u i'nr'i Hva"'abad' relartsana- 500 004' Municipality, Thorrur, Mahabubabad Dist '

3. The Commissioner, Thorrur Telangana.

4. One CC to SRI S NAGESWARAREDDY' Advocate [OPU[;] 5. One CC to SRI PUTTA KRISHNA REDDY' SC FOR MCP[- [OPUC] 6. Two CCS to GP FoR MCPL ADMN URBAN DEV, High Court for the State of Telangana at HYderabad [OUT]

7. Two CD CoPies BSR BS HIGH COURT DATED:1 210612025 I (\o ( :\\:\ i''.\.] c {-. ,.1 o 2 E JUN 2025 COMMON ORDER WP.Nos.11560, 11574 & 11597 ot.2025 -' - D :i-- DISPOSING OF ALL THE WRIT PETITIONS, WITHOUT COSTS e6l6