l\4ohd Ahmed v. The State of Telangana

Counsel for the Respondent's No's 2 & 3 : SRl. SRINIVAS RAO PACHWA SC FOR GHMC The Court made the following: ORDER '- --_:- - '' -: ---- | HONOURABLE SRI IUSTICE B. VIIAYSEN REDDY WRIT PETITION No.3257 OF 2025 ORDER: (oRAL) Heard Mr. Pramod Singh, leamed counsel fbr the petitioner; Mr. Srinivas Rao Pachrva, leamed Standing Counsel fbr Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). appearing for respondents No.2 and 3; and perused thc material on record

2. The petitioner claims to be the owner of the premises bearing H.No.9-8-161 (PTIN. No. 13030901739) consisting of two srnall shuners admeasuring 150 square feet on the land admeasuring 200 square yards, situated at Champapet, Saroor Nagar Mandal, Ranga Reddy District It is stated that initially, the subject property was assessed by the L.B. Nagar Municipality lor property tax of Rs.56ll- (Rupees five hundred and sixty one only) about more than ten (10) years back However, later it was enhanced to Rs.1,945/- (Rupees one thousand nine hundred and forty five only) annually and the lather ofthe petitioner had been paying the said amount until his death on 20.01.201 . Thereafter, the petitioner has not received any demand notice from the GHMC.

3. The petitioner is a citizen of Australia; he had been residing in Australia since 201 1. It is submitted that the subject propefty was leased 2 ":,ffi.f} \ - out to a trader; subsequently, the trader vacated thc subjcct property about twelve ( l2 ) years back. Recently, the petitionc'r visited India and verilied with the GIIMC officials and was surpriscJ to sce thar the current propertv tax ol the subject property u,as shorrn as I{s.9 1,392l- (Rupees ninety one thousand three hundred and ninetv tu,o only); arrears of property tax was shown as Rs.14,38,255i- (Rupe cs lourtcen lakhs thirty eight thousand two hundred and fifty five onlv) and interest on arrears of prope ny tax was shown as Rs.26,81 ,698/- (J{upecs twenty six lakhs eighty one thousand six hundred and ninety eirrlrr only), and the total tax arrears is shown as Rs.42,11,345i- (Rupees lbrty trvo lakhs eleven thousand three hundred and forty five only).

4. Leamed counsel for the petitioner submitted that rvitl.rout issuing any prior notice 1o the petitioner and without following rhe provisions of the (ireater Hyderabad Municipalities Act 1955 (tbr sho.t ,CiHMC Act,), the propefty tax ofthe subject properfy has been enharcc.d Rs.1,945/- to Rs.91,392l- retrospectively from 20ll-12. The GH\IC otl-rcials never visited the subjoct property nor issued any demanrl notice after the enhancement. It is submitted that on verification of the GHMC website, the petitioner carne to know that the plinth area of the sub.ject propefty 7 ) was incorrectly shown as 3939 '62 square feet whereas the actual measurement of the subject propefty is t 50 square feet' Thus' there is violation of the procedure contemplated under Sections 220 to 223 ofthe GHMC Act.

5. Leamed Standing Counscl for GHMC submitted that there are tax arrears payable by the petitioner in respect ol the subject propcrty from 2007. As the petitioner did not pay the property tax' dcmand notice was issued to the occupier of the building indicating the previous tax' current tax, tax alrears, and interest of tax arrears' which accumulated to Rs.42,11,3451-. q

6. Considering the submissions of the leamed counsel for the petitioner that the impugned demand notice was issued to the petitioner enhancing the property tax without conducting any inspection of the subject property, without issuing any prior notice to the petitioner and without foltowing the procedure contemplated under Sections 220 to 223 of the GHMC Act, this writ petition is disposed of directing the petitioner to submit representation'/objections to the impugned demand notice issued by the respondent authorities in respect of the subject property within a period of ten (10) days from the date of receipt of a copy of this .\ .., ,r- -+;!rj r" . -- v1 4 order by depositing a sum ol Rs.4,00,000/- (Rupees lour lakhs only). Thc representation/obj ections submitted by the p:titioncr shall be considered within a period of tbur (4) weeks from th. cate of receipt of such representat ion/obj ections. The amount of Rs.4.0r1.00()i- deposited by thc petitioner shall be adjusted subject to the outcor_re ol'the enquiry pursuant to the representation/objections submitted b1, the petitioner. 'I'herc shall be rro order as to costs. As a sequel thereto, miscellaneous applications. il anr.. pending in this writ petition, stand closed. SD/. S.MALLIKARJUNA RAO ASSISTANT REGISTRAR 6- SECTION OFFICER //TRUE COPY' To,

1. The Princrpal Secretary, IVlunicipai Administration and Urban Development' Secretariai, State of Telangana. Hyderabad' I S'

2. The Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corcoration Tankbund' Hyderabad.

3. The Deputy Commissioner, L B NAGAR, Circle-4' Grealer Hyderabad tvlunicipal Corporation, Hyderabad. 4 One CC to SRI PRATMOD SINGH Advocate IOPUC] 5. One CC to SRl. SRINIVAS RAO PACHWA SC For GHIVC Advocate [OPUC] 6'TwoCCstoGPFoRtVCPLADMNURBANDEV,HiqhCourtfortheStateof Telangana. [OUT] T Two CD CoPies ASV KS M I HIGH COURT DATED:2811012025 ORDER WP.No.32577 of 2025 tAr( a -a' 1 0[I 3 ro5 lt ..: li-t .-. \\.. ,,11 €o c.TA

1.o \\.RI I- PI'TI I'ION IS DISPOSI'D OF \\'ITIIOUT COST 1o ,\,