IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Writ Petition No.719 of 1987 (O&M) Date of decision:21.10.2011 Frances Newton Hospital, Ferozepore City, through Dr. Richard David, Medical Superintendent. ...Petitioner versus The State of Punjab through the Secretary to Government Punjab, Medical and Health and Local Government, Punjab, Chandigarh, and others. ....Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE K. KANNAN ---- Present: Mr. Sandeep Khunger, Advocate, for the petitioner. Mr. Navdeep Sukhna, DAG, Punjab. Mr. N.S.Swaitch, Advocate, for respondent No.2. ---- 1. Whether reporters of local papers may be allowed to see the judgment ? No. 2. To be referred to the reporters or not ? No. 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the digest ? No. ---- K.Kannan, J. (Oral) 1. The point urged is that the petitioner- Hospital is a registered Society and registered as a charitable institution under Section 10 and exempted from income tax. The petitioner has produced the proceedings of the Income Tax Officer, Ferozepore, dated 09.10.1985, providing for exemption under Section 10 (22A) of the IT Act. The petitioner relies on the Government notification issued on 19.09.1963 that exempts from property tax, mosque, temples, etc. that include registered charitable, educational and Civil Writ Petition No.719 of 1987 (O&M) - 2 - religious institutions. There has been a subsequent notification issued by the Local Government Departments on 03.12.1975 that specifically exempts hospitals. The petitioner claim that the Society is running a hospital and entitled to exemption from the levy of property tax. This point has been considered by this Court in CWP No.14198 of 1991, decided on 04.08.2011, titled as 'Frances Newton Hospital, Ferozepore City, through Dr. Richard David, Medical Superintendent Versus the State of Punjab and others'. The petitioner is the same hospital that runs the institution at Ferozepore, while the petitioner in CWP No.14198 of 1991 was the same hospital that had established its branch hospital at Guru Harsahai, Ferozepore. The petitioner is entitled to the same relief. The impugned assessment and the orders passed rejecting the petitioner's claim seeking for exemption are quashed. The writ petition is allowed. The amount paid by the petitioner in the intra- departmental proceedings challenging the assessment vide Annexures P-8 and P-9 is directed to be refunded with interest at 6% from the date when the amount was paid by the petitioner till it is returned by the respondents. (K. KANNAN) JUDGE 21.10.2011 sanjeev