Sirpur Paper Mills Ltd Vs Government of Andhra Pradesh (Telangana High Court)
Summary: The Telangana High Court considered a batch of writ petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Section 8 of the Andhra Pradesh Non-agricultural Land Assessment Act, 1963 (NALA Act), the Andhra Pradesh Non-agricultural Land Assessment (Amendment) Act, No.8 of 1994 with effect from 01.07.1993, demand notices issued under Section 4 and orders of distraint. One petition also challenged applicability of the NALA Act to lands covered by mining leases. The matters came before the High Court pursuant to the Supreme Court’s order dated 22.11.2005 remanding Civil Appeal Nos.2885-3035 of 1998 for fresh consideration in light of State of West Bengal vs. Kesoram Industries Limited and Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry vs. State of Andhra Pradesh.
The dispute substantially concerned whether non-agricultural assessment could be levied on the entire land held by an industrial or commercial undertaking or only on land actually used for the relevant industrial or commercial purpose. The earlier Full Bench decision in V.Cement Limited vs. Revenue Divisional Officer, Nandyal had given the word “used” a wider meaning, including land meant to be used, set apart for use or readily available for use. That view had overruled the earlier Division Bench decision in Associated Cement Companies Limited vs. Government of Andhra Pradesh, which had held that assessment could extend only to the extent on which the factory and buildings were constructed and not to land not used for the relevant purpose.
