For God’s sake

The Kerala Building Tax Act exempts the tax for buildings used principally for religious purposes. The tax was imposed on a building used as a Sunday school but let out on all other days. The imposition was challenged. But the Kerala High Court held that while the building was used for imparting religious education on Sundays, it was let out for marriage parties and other functions, even to members of other religious groups. Since the building was used only for 52 days out of 365 a year, such use cannot be termed as principal use (Vicar Puthenpalli vs Tahsildar Vaikom Taluk & Anor).

Short-changed

A 14-year-old boy was electrocuted by a wire while climbing a tree. A suit was filed for damages worth Rs 2 lakh. The civil court awarded Rs 40,000 as damages. The electricity board challenged the order contending there was no negligence on its part. The Gujarat High Court dismissed the appeal holding that the amount awarded was too low considering that the victim was a young boy who had suffered permanent disablement, and become incapacitated for future employment. The court also reprimanded the board for spending money on litigation while trying to avoid paying compensation to a poor villager (GEB & Anor vs Pravin Nanji Nathbava).

Billboard licence

A petitioner was granted licence for display of hoardings for a period of one year. The licence could be renewed every year, but no time limit was fixed for such renewal. As there was no application for renewal by the petitioner after one year, the licence was granted to another firm. The previous licensee challenged the grant. The Madras High Court held that as the previous licensee had made an application for renewal eight months after the expiry of the term, the authorities were justified in granting the licence to another firm (M/s XL Visions vs National Highways).

Solon