Madras High Court: Airport Authority Liable To Pay Urban Land Tax

Madras High Court: Airport Authority Liable To Pay Urban Land Tax

The Court held that the Airport Authority of India could not be construed as 'Central Government' within the meaning of the exemption clause of the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act

The Madras High Court has held that the Airport Authority of India was liable to pay the Urban Land Tax as applicable.

The matter titled M/s Airports Authority of India v Special Commissioner & Commissioner And Ors was placed before a single-judge court of Justice S.M. Subramaniam in the High Court of Madras.

The Petitioner – Airport Authority of India through this petition challenged the order of the Respondent – Authorities for rejecting its plea that they were entitled to claim an exemption under Section 29 of the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act, 1966.

The Petitioner is a statutory organization under the administrative control of the Government of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation and thus holds certain lands. The main contention by the Petitioner was that Section 29 of the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act, 1966 contemplates exemptions and accordingly nothing of this Act would apply to any urban land owned by the State or the Central Government. It was submitted that the Petitioner is wholly owned by the Government of India, Ministry of Civil Aviation and, therefore, the said exemption clause would be applicable to the Petitioner. The Petitioner further contended that the levy of urban land tax by the Assistant Commissioner was directly hit u/S 29(1)(a) of the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act, 1956 and that the Petitioner was a 'State' within the meaning of Article 12 of the Constitution of India.

The Respondent – Authorities, on the other hand, relied on the judgment of the Supreme Court cited as (1995) 5 SCC 251, which cleared the doubt in respect of the status of the Airport Authority of India. It was ruled in unambiguous terms that the authority could not invoke the immunity created by Article 285(1) of the Constitution. The levy of property tax by the relevant municipal bodies was unexceptionable.

The Court opined that the principles laid down in the aforesaid judgment of the Supreme Court would apply to the present matter as well. Therefore, the Petitioner could not be construed as 'Central Government' within the meaning of exemption clause as contemplated under Section 29(a) of the Tamil Nadu Urban Land Tax Act, 1966.

The Court, thus, held that the Respondent – Authorities were empowered to levy the Urban Land Tax under the provisions of the said Act.