{1} IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE OF BOMBAY BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO.4670 OF 2009 Deogiri Forgings Pvt. Ltd., (CNC Division), Gut No.64, Narayanpur (Bk), 14 th K.M. Stone, Pune Road, Tq-Gangapur, Dist-Ahmednagar Through its Manager Commercial and Administration Shaikh Naimoddin PETITIONER VERSUS 1. The State of Maharashtra Through Secretary, Industries Department, Mantralaya, Mumbai 2. The Principal Secretary, Industries Department, State of Maharashtra, Mantralaya, Mumbai 3. The District Collector, Aurangabad, Dist-Aurangabad 4. The Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad, Aurangabad 5. The Sarpanch, Narayanpur Grampanchayat, Tq-Gangapur, Dist-Aurangabad 6. The Gram Sevak, Narayanpur Grampanchayat, Tq-Gangapur, Dist-Aurangbad RESPONDENTS ....... Mr.A.G.Talhar, Advocate for the petitioner {2} Mr.V.H.Dighe, AGP for respondents No.1 to 3 Mr.U.B.Bondar, Advocate for respondent No.4 Mr.V.D.Sapkal, Advocate for respondents No.5 and 6 ....... [CORAM : P.V.HARDAS, and A.V.POTDAR, J.J.] DATE : 31 st August 2009 ORAL JUDGMENT (PER A.V.POTDAR, J.) : 1. Rule. Rule returnable forthwith. With the consent of learned counsel for the parties this petition is heard finally at the stage of admission. 2. By the present writ petition, under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner prays for issuance of directions to the State Government to decide the dispute regarding execution of an agreement in respect of property taxes claimed by respondent No.5, within a stipulated period and further direct the Gram Panchayat not to recover property taxes from the petitioner till the Government decides the said dispute. The petitioner has also prayed for quashing of the notice issued by respondents No.5 & 6. 3. The petitioner runs a factory, which according to respondents No.5 and 6, is situated within their local limits and hence they have issued notice to the petitioner for payment of property tax u/s 124 of the Bombay Village Panchayat Act. However, it is the contention of the petitioner that the respondent No.5 Gram Panchayat does not provide any facility to the petitioner factory and hence the Gram Panchayat is not entitled to levy or recover any tax from the petitioner u/s 124 of the Act {3} but instead the Gram Panchayat can recover one time tax from the petitioner u/s 125 of the Act, for which application has to be submitted to the Government, which has to be routed through the Chief Executive Officer. According to the petitioner, the petitioner has submitted such representation to the Government through respondent No.4 on 25.03.2009, which is still pending. The petitioner, therefore, seeks direction to respondent No.4 to scrutinize the proposal submitted by the petitioner within a stipulated period and then to forward the same to the concerned ministry for necessary action with direction to the respondent No.5 to enter into an agreement u/s 125 of the Act. 4. Considering the limited relief sought for in this petition, we deem it appropriate to decide this petition at the stage of admission itself. 5. Learned counsel for petitioner relied on the judgment of Division Bench of this Court in writ petition No.4603/2007 dated 31 st March 2008 to which one of us (P.V.Hardas,J) was a party. All the parties agree that the question / issue involved in the present writ petition is the same which was involved in the said writ petition. The petitioner has already submitted applications to the Chief Executive Officer, Zilla Parishad on 25.03.2009 and the same are to be forwarded to the State Government through the Chief Executive Officer. By the said applications the petitioner has requested the CEO to refer the dispute in terms of Section 125 of the Act read with Rule 9 of the Maharashtra Village Panchayat (Payment of Lump sum Contribution by Factories in liue of Taxes) Rules 1981. Learned counsel appearing for respondent No.4 states that the applications would be referred to the Government within a period of 12 weeks from today. We accept this statement as an {4} undertaking to the Court. In the light of this statement and in the light of the directions issued by Division Bench of this Court in Writ Petition No.4603/2007, we allow this writ petition. Rule is thus made absolute on the terms of the statement made on behalf of the Chief Executive Officer that the dispute between the petitioner and Gram Panchayat would be referred to the Government within a period of 12 weeks form today as per the provisions of section 125 of the said Act read with Rule 9 of the said Rules. We further direct the concerned competent authority to decide the said dispute as expeditiously as possible on the reference being made by the Chief Executive Officer. Writ petition stands disposed of with no order as to costs. [A.V.POTDAR, J.] [P.V.HARDAS, J.] drp/wp4670-09