Centre not owner of enemy properties, can't seek exemption from paying civic taxes: SC
Enemy properties vested with government-appointed custodians are not assets of the central government which cannot seek exemption from paying municipal cess, including house and water taxes, the Supreme Court has held. The verdict was delivered by a bench comprising Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan on Thursday on an appeal of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation against an Allahabad High Court judgment holding that the civic body cannot seek property taxes from the assessees who are in occupation of an enemy property.
The property in question is located on Mahatma Gandhi Marg in Lucknow and was once owned by the 'Raja' of Mahmudabad, Mohammad Amir Ahmed Khan, who had migrated to Pakistan in 1947.
However, the son and wife of Khan remained in India and later sought its return after the death of the 'Raja'.
A portion of the property is currently occupied and used for «profit-generating purposes» by a respondent-assessee, Kohli Brothers Colour Lab Pvt Ltd who had contested the demand for house and other taxes by the civic body.
«The Union of India cannot assume ownership of the enemy properties once the said property is vested in the Custodian. This is because, there is no transfer of ownership from the owner of the enemy property to the Custodian and consequently, there is no ownership rights transferred to the Union of India. Therefore, the enemy properties which vest in the Custodian are not Union properties,» Justice Nagarathna, writing 143-page judgement, said.
«When the Custodian appointed by the Central
