Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1994:
ss.43, 87, 88, 177, 193, 194, 196 and 205 – Office Order dated 14.6.1999 issued by Municipal Corporation for regularisation of tubewells causing unauthorised activities of discharging of waste water into the main sewer of the Corporation – Corporation claimed user charges from the schools for discharging the water drawn from tubewell, into the sewer vested in the Corporation – The schools challenged the levy of user charges – High Court set aside the charges on the ground that such fee falls within ambit of s.88 and hence in absence of prior approval of State Government, such levy is not sustainable – On appeal, held: The user charges were not a tax or fee as contemplated u/ss. 87 or 88 – The water extracted by tubewells were discharged by the schools into the municipal drains – Therefore, Corporation was justified to levy user charges for the use of municipal drains for discharge of waste water from the tubewells.
Allowing the appeals, the Court
HELD: 1. In terms of Section 43 of Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, 1999, one of the obligatory functions of Corporation is construction, maintenance and cleaning of drains and drainage works and also scavenging, removal and disposal of filth, rubbish and other obnoxious or polluted mattes. It is in exercise of such function that the Municipal Corporation has provided for the disposal of the waste water from residential, commercial and industrial areas falling within the area of Municipal Corporation into its sewer drain. [Para 14][711-A-B]
2. The water extracted by tubewells installed by the Schools is discharged into the Municipal drains, therefore, the Corporation is justified to levy user charges whereby, the waste water of the Schools is carried by the Municipal drains. Though, the Schools could not discharge waste water into Municipal drains without prior permission but instead of stopping the communication of private drain with the Municipal drain, the Corporation has demanded user charges which is not a tax or fee as contemplated under Section 87 or 88 of the Act, but user charges for using the Municipal services for discharge of waste water extracted by the Schools from the tubewells installed by them. [Paras 20 and 21][712-B-C]
3. The fact that the Municipal Corporation has claimed user charges is made out from the office order dated 14.06.1999. In response to notice, the Schools have agreed to regularise the discharge, but, disputed the levy subsequently on the ground that such fee cannot be charged being in contravention of Sections
87 and 88 of the Act. The documents on record leave no manner of doubt that the Corporation has not levied any tax or fee falling within the scope of Section 87 or 88 of the Act. The Corporation has claimed the user charges for permitting the Schools to discharge waste water into the Municipal drains which are related to the capacity to extract ground water. Such demand does not contravene any of the provisions of the Act. Therefore, the Corporation was well within its right to claim user charges for the use of Municipal drains for discharge of waste water from the tubewells installed by the Schools. [Paras 22, 23 and 24][712-D-G]
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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