Court No. - 21
Case :- WRIT - C No. - 25280 of 2019 Petitioner :- Mohammad Idris Respondent :- State Of U.P. And 2 Others Counsel for Petitioner :- Pradeep Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- C.S.C.,Jai Bahadur Singh
Hon'ble Pradeep Kumar Singh Baghel,J. Hon'ble Piyush Agrawal,J.
The petitioner has filed the present writ petition seeking a direction to the District Magistrate, Budaun, respondent no.2 to decide his appeal filed on 11.7.2018 under section 160 of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916 (hereinafter referred to as the Act).
The facts of the case are that the petitioner is the resident of House No. 39/33, Katra Alam Shah, Budaun. The respondent no.3 had issued a notice dated 3.2.2019 demanding a sum of Rs. 13,811/- towards the outstanding dues of house tax and water tax. Against the said notice the petitioner filed his objection on 9.2.2019 and the same was rejected on 5.4.2019 by the respondent no.3. Against the order dated 5.4.2019 the petitioner preferred an appeal under section 160 of the Act before the respondent no.2 and the same is still pending.
Heard Sri Pradeep Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Jai Bahadur Singh, learned counsel for the respondent no.3 and learned standing counsel for respondent nos. 1 and 2.
Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that in spite of there being no dues pending against the property in question an illegal demand has been created by the respondent no.3, against which the petitioner's appeal is pending. He further submits that in pursuance of the order dated 8.10.2018 passed in Writ C No. 33862 of 2019 (Mohammad Idris vs. State of U.P. and others) the petitioner has deposited the amount of tax but still the appeal of the petitioner has not been decided by the respondent no.2.
Learned counsel for the respondent no.3 submits that the petitioner has filed the appeal on 11.7.2019 and the same shall be decided in due course. In support of his submission he has relied upon the Division Bench judgment of this Court in Ali Shad Usmani and others vs. Ali Isteba and others (2015 (2) ADJ 250) where this Court has held as follows:
"We are not inclined to issue a direction for the expeditious hearing of a Civil Suit which is pending before the Civil Judge (Junior Division), District-Azamgarh. It would be most inappropriate to Court to entertain a writ petition under Article 226 and/or under Article 227 of the Constitution simply for the purpose of expediting the hearing of a suit. Such orders, if granted, place a class of litigants, who move the court in a separate and preferential category whereas other cases which may be of similar or greater antiquity and urgency are left to be decided in the normal channel. Hence, any such direction may be issued with the greatest care and circumspection by the High Court otherwise the Civil Courts will be overburdened only with requests for expeditious disposal of suits, which have been expedited by the High Court. Most of the litigants cannot afford the expense of moving the High court and would not, therefore, be in a position to have the benefit of such an order.
Ultimately, it must be left to the judicious exercise of discretion of the concerned Court to determine whether a ground for urgency has been made out. We emphasize that there may be other cases such as involving senior citizens, those who are differently abled or people suffering from a particular disablilty socio- economic or otherwise which may prime cause of urgent disposal. It is for the learned Trial Judge in each case to apply his or her mind and decide whether the hearing of the suit to be expedited.
For these reasons, we are not inclined to entertain the petition. The petition is, accordingly, dismissed. There shall be no order as to cost."
We have perused the records which reveal that pursuant to the order dated 8.10.2018 passed in Writ C No. 33862 of 2019 the petitioner has deposited the demanded amount, a copy of the receipt has also been submitted before the respondent no.2.
In the interest of justice, we direct the respondent no. 2 to decide the pending appeal of the petitioner dated 11.7.2019 expeditiously, preferably within a period of three months from the date a certified copy of this order is produced in his office.
With the aforesaid observations/directions the writ petition is disposed of.
Order Date :- 26.8.2019 samz