Kerala Building Tax Act, 1975 – s.3(1) – Interpretation of the provision for exemptions contained in s.3(1) – The two judge Bench in Lisie Medical Institutions v. State of Kerala has doubted the correctness of certain observations contained in an earlier decision of two Judges in SH Medical Centre Hospital vs State of Kerala – While construing the provisions of s.3(1)(b) of the Kerala Building Tax Act 1975, the two Judge Bench in SH Medical Centre Hospital, has incorporated the observations which suggests that the Explanation to Section 3(1) to mean that a ‘charitable purpose’ is confined only to relief of the poor and free medical relief – Held: This observation of the two-Judge Bench in SH Medical Centre Hospital does not accord with the plain meaning of the Explanation to Section 3(1) – The two judge bench in SH Medical Centre Hospital conflated the use of the word ‘include’ with ‘means’ – The Explanation goes to indicate that ‘charitable purposes’ includes and is, therefore, not confined to the relief of the poor and free medical relief – Consequently, the decision in SH Medical Centre Hospital to the extent of the interpretation which is placed on the Explanation to Section 3(1)(b) of the Kerala Building Tax Act 1975 does not correctly reflect the position in law – The decision in SH Medical Centre Hospital is, therefore, overruled to the above extent. SH Medical Centre Hospital v. State of Kerala (2014)
11 SCC 381 – Overruled.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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