c Petition No 18280 of 1987 Etc
IN Writ Petition No 6945 of 1982
997 Under Article 32 of the Constitution of India
KL Rathee section Balakrishnan and Harish N Salve for the Petitioner
Ranjit Kumar Pramod Dayal and RB Datar for the Re spondents
The following Order of the Court was delivered A three Judge Bench of this Court in the case of Dr Balbir Singh  Ors
vs Municipal Corporation Delhi  Ors elaborately examined the provisions of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act of 1957 for the purpose of ascertaining the manner of determination of rateable value which was necessary for making assessment of property tax under that Act
This Court classified the properties into four categories
 1 self occupied 2 partly self occupied and partly tenanted 3 restrictive lease hold on which construction is raised and 4 where the property has been constructed in stages
So far as the fourth category is concerned and these appli cations are concerned with that this Court said The fourth category of premises we must deal with is the category where the premises are constructed in stages
The dis cussion in the preceding paragraph of this judgment provides an answer to the question as to how the rateable value of this category of premises is to be determined when the premises at the first stage of construction are to be assessed for rateable value the assessing authorities would first have to determine the standard rent of the premises under sub sec tion 2 a or 2b or 1A2b or 1B2b of Section 6 as may be applicable and keeping in mind the upper limit fixed by the standard rent and taking into account the various factors discussed above the assessing authorities would have to determine the rent which the owner of the premises 998 may reasonably expect to get if the premises are let out to a hypothetical tenant and such rent would represent the rateable value of the premises
 Having said so generally this Court proceeded to examine the different facets of the ques tion and stated When any addition is made to the premises at a subsequent stage three differ ent situations may arise
Firstly the addi tion may not be of a distinct and separate unit of occupation but may be merely by way of extension of the existing premises which are self occupied
In such a case the original premises together with the additional struc ture would have to be treated as a single unit for the purpose of assessment and its rateable value would have to be determined on the basis of the rent which the owner may reasonably expect to get if the premises as a whole are let out subject to the upper limit of the standard rent determinable under the provi sions of sub section 1A2b of Section 6
Secondly the existing premises before the addition might be tenanted and the addition might be to the tenanted premises so that the additional structure also form part of the same tenancy
Where such is the case the standard rent would be liable to increase under Section 7 and such increased rent would be the standard rent of the premises as a whole and within the upper limit fixed by such standard rent the assessing authorities would have to determine the rent which the owner may reasonably expect to get if the premises as a whole are let out as a single unit to a hypo thetical tenant and in such a case the actual rent received would be a fair measure of the rent which the owner may reasonably expect to receive from such hypothetical tenant unless it is influenced by extra commercial consider ations
Lastly the addition may be of a distinct and separate unit of occupation and in such a case the rateable value of the premises would have to be determined on the basis of the formula laid down by us for assessing the rateable value of premises which are partly self occupied and partly tenanted
The same principles for determining of rate able value would obviously apply in case of subsequent additions to the existing premises
The basic point to be noted in all these cases is and this is what we have already emphasised earlier that the formula set out in 999 sub section 1A2b and 1B2b of Section 6 cannot be applied for determining the standard rent of an addition as if that addition was the only structure standing on the land
The assessing authorities cannot determine the standard rent of the additional structure by taking the reasonable cost of construction of the additional structure and adding to it the market price of the land and applying the statutory percentage of 7 12 to the aggregate amount
 Initially an application was made by Common Cause petition er in original Writ Petition No 6945 of 1982 for clarifica tion of the judgment confined to the last category of the fourth group referred to above
Later the Corporation itself made an application for the same purpose and impleaded the Government Servants Cooperative House Building Society as a party to that application
On October 1 1985 a little more than 10 months after the original judgment these cases were listed for directions
A two Judge Bench consisting of Bhagwati CJ and Pathak J as the learned Chief Justice then was both of them being parties to the three Judge Bench decision gave the following direction The assessments made on the properties in volved in these cases are set aside if and only if any appeals were filed against such assessments or objections were raised to the draft or provisional assessments and in such cases fresh assessments are directed to be made in accordance with the law laid down by this Court save and except in those cases where the question in regard to the valuation of the land in relation to the subsequently constructed additional structures is involved which question we have yet to decide in CMP 125 1383 in Writ Petition No 694582 and other connected matters fixed for hearing on 291085
Where no appeals were preferred against the assessments and no objections were filed against draft or provisional assess ments the assessments will not be liable to be set aside and in such cases the writ petitions and appeals will to that extent stand dismissed
That is how these applications have now been placed for consideration
Long arguments have been advanced before us by Mr Datar appearing for the Municipal Corporation Common Cause and the 1000 Government Servants Cooperative House Building Society have resisted the application by advancing counter arguments through their respective counsel
Mr Datar stated that clarification is confined to cases of subsequent construc tion raised upon existing construction and the manner of valuing the land for determination of the value of the property
This question was pointedly examined by the three Judge Bench and at page 475 of the Reports this Court held  The market price of the land cannot be added twice over once while determining the standard rent of the original structure and again while determining the standard rent of the additional structure
Once the addition is made the formula set out in sub section 1A2b and 1B2 b of section 6 can be applied only in relation to the prem ises as a whole and where the additional structure consists of a distinct and separate unit of occupation the standard rent would have to be apportioned in the manner indicated by us in the earlier part of this judgment
 This Court had therefore clearly indicated that when at a different stage additional construction was raised on the property already valued the market value of the land was not to be taken into account as it had already been consid ered while fixing the valuation of the pre existing con struction
The Corporation did not challenge the correctness of the decision but only wanted clarification
Since the matter has been directly decided and there is absolutely no ambiguity an application of this type on behalf of the Corporation does not lie
We were told by Mr Salve learned counsel for Common Cause that their application had emanated when the Corporation wanted to act contrary to the judgment of this Court in regard to this category of constructions
Later on the Corporation wanted the cover of a clarificatory order of this Court for the procedure adopted by it for reflecting the market value of the land more than once in situations appertaining to the category
On our finding that this Court has categorically decided that the market value of land is not to be added over again there is no ambiguity which requires clarification
We decline to make any clarificatory order as there is no necessity
All the Civil Misc
Petitions are accordingly dismissed
PSS Petitions dismissed


Summary:
In Dr Balbir Singh  Ors
vs Municipal Corporation Delhi  Ors this Court while laying down principles for determination of rateable value for making assessment of property tax of premises constructed in stages in Delhi emphasised that the formula set out in sub sections
1A2b and 1B2b of section 6 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 cannot be applied for determining the standard rent of an addition as if that addition was the only structure standing on the land
The assessing authori ties cannot determine the standard rent of additional struc ture by taking the reasonable cost of construction of the additional structure and adding to it the market price of the land and applying the statutory percentage of to the aggregate amount
 The petitioner society and the Municipal Corporation in their applications to this Court sought clarification of the above observations
Dismissing the applications HELD The matter has been categorically decided and there is absolutely no ambiguity which requires clarifica tion
When at a different stage additional construction is raised on the property already valued the market value of the land is not to be taken into account as It has already been considered while fixing the valuation of the preexist ing construction
1000D E G