Kerala Municipality Act: No Property Tax Exemption U/S 235 For Building Given On Rent Merely Because Rent Is Utilised For Charity
Case: Panayppilly Sree Narayana Guruswami Trust v. Corporation of Kochi & Ors.
Coram: Justice Shaji P. Chaly
Case No.: WP(C) NO. 10147 OF 2014
Court Observation: “It can be seen that exemption can only be granted to those buildings which are utilised for the purposes mentioned, under section 235 of Act, 1994. To put it otherwise, no other buildings are entitled to get exemption from payment of property tax. That apart, the explanation to section 235 extracted above,clearly specifies that the exemption granted under this section shall not extend to buildings for which rent is realised by the owners and to residential houses not being hostels attached to educational institutions and to residential houses attached to libraries.”
“Merely because a trust is the owner of the building, that by itself is not an enabling circumstance for the trust to secure exemption from property tax under section 235 of the Act, 1994, even if it is undertaking charity work from the income generated from the building or buildings owned by it.”
“Such an exemption can be granted only on the owner of the building establishing before the authority that the building is used completely for charitable or such other purposes in contemplation of law prescribed under the Act 1994.”
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Keywords
Kerala Municipality Act, No Property Tax Exemption,
