‘HC cannot act as an appellate authority under Chit Funds Act’

It dismisses petition filed by a firm which had questioned an order passed by the Joint Registrar of Chits, Raichur, way back in June 2011

The High Court of Karnataka has said that it cannot act as an appellate authority over the orders passed by an appellate officer under Section 70 of the Chit Funds Act, 1972, particularly in the absence of allegations like violation of fundamental rights, principle of natural justice and erroneous application of law.

“This court in exercise of its power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, cannot sit as an appellate authority over the order passed under Section 70 of the Act. It [High

Court] cannot delve into disputed question of facts,” the court said.

Justice M.I. Arun passed the order while dismissing a 13yearold petition filed by Margadarsi Chits (K) Pvt. Ltd., which had questioned an order passed by Joint Registrar of Chits, Raichur, way back in June 2011. The Registrar of Chits, Ballari, had passed an order under Section 69 of the Act holding that one H. Srinivasa Reddy is liable to pay ₹1.74 lakh to the petitionerfirm with costs and interest. However, the Joint Registrar of Chits, Raichur, had allowed the appeal under Section 70 and held that Mr. Reddy is not liable to pay any amount to the petitionerfirm as per the Act, and the petitionerfirm had questioned this decision before the High Court.

Noticing that the Act provides for only one appeal under Section 70 against the order passed under Section 69, the High

Court said that the petitionerfirm had not alleged that its fundamental rights were violated or principle of natural justice was not followed by the authorities or the orders passed were without the jurisdiction or erroneous interpretation of the law for the High Court to interfere interfere under the Article 226 of the Constitution.

As the petitionerfirm had made an allegation that the facts of the case were not properly appreciated by the Joint Registrar of Chits, the court said that it cannot exercise power under the Article 226 to examine this issue.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken action against Mantri Square mall in Bengaluru by sealing the premises for allegedly defaulting on property tax to the tune of ₹34.22 crore.

A BBMP official said, “With the assistance of the police and BBMP marshals, we sealed Mantri mall at Malleswaram on Saturday morning due to outstanding tax debt amounting to approximately ₹34.22 crore.”

BBMP officials locked the main door of the mall and put up a banner stating that the closure was due to the nonpayment of property tax arrears and that the trade licence had been cancelled.

This is not the first time the BBMP has taken such an action against Mantri mall over property tax dues.