Sapthagiri Shelters Vs State of Karnataka (Karnataka High Court)
The Karnataka High Court partly allowed a batch of writ petitions challenging amendments to the Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976 and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Act, 2020, together with consequential levies and demand notices raised by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The petitions followed the earlier judgment in Sunderam Shetty, in which the Court had quashed circulars imposing ground rent, licence fee, scrutiny fee, security deposit, lake rejuvenation fee and other charges for want of statutory backing, while leaving liberty to the State or BBMP to introduce appropriate levies through suitable amendments.
The petitioners contended that the subsequent amendments did not remove the defects identified in Sunderam Shetty, particularly the linking of fees to guidance value, the absence of proportionality between fees and services, the imposition of ground rent irrespective of actual use of public roads, and the levy of security fee, scrutiny fee, compound wall charges, betterment charges, cess and surcharge. They also challenged the retrospective validation of earlier collections.
The respondents submitted that the amendments were enacted pursuant to the liberty granted in Sunderam Shetty, supplied the statutory foundation previously found missing, and validly operated retrospectively. It was also contended that the observations in Sunderam Shetty concerning the nature and quantum of the levies were obiter dicta. The respondents further relied upon decisions concerning retrospective legislation, delegation, the distinction between tax and fee, and the legislature’s power to remove the basis of a judicial decision.
