THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE N.V. RAMANA WRIT PETITION No.18933 of 2010 DATED: 04.08.2010 Between: Bank of India, a Body Corporate Constituted under Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings Act 1970), Having its Head Office at Star House, C-5, G Block, Bandra Kurla Complex, Bandra (East) Mumbai and having its Zonal Office of Hyderabad Zone at PTI Buildings, AC Guards, Khairatabad, Hyderabad, rep. by its Zonal Manager. .. Petitioner And The State of A.P. rep. by its Secretary, Municipal Administration, Hyderabad and others. .. Respondents ORDER: It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner and admitted to by the learned counsel for the respondents that the subject matter of this writ petition is squarely covered by the common judgment rendered by this Court in Rama Devi Multi Specialty Dental Clinic v. Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation[1], whereunder similar writ petitions were allowed holding as under: (a) the advertisement fee levied by the Corporation is in the form of a tax referable to Section 197 of the Act and it could not have been levied without specific authority and in accordance with the prescribed procedure; (b) the notices impugned in the writ petitions do not accord with Sections 169, 633 and other relevant provisions of the Act, and they are accordingly set aside; and (c) the Corporation is entitled to insist on the permissions being obtained for erection and display of advertisements, subject, however, to the exceptions covered by the proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 421 of the Act; and to stipulate fee thereof, commensurate with the service or regulatory activity, and in its discretion to levy tax, under Section 197 (f), duly following the prescribed procedure. In the circumstances, following the above judgment, this writ petition is also allowed by and in terms of the directions as extracted above. There shall be no order as to costs. ______________ N.V.RAMANA, J 4th August, 2010 IBL [1] 2010 (3) ALT 302