New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said the writ jurisdiction of high courts cannot be exercised in public interest for questioning the economic policy or reforms sought to be undertaken by the government or its functionaries.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta said judicial interference by way of public interest litigation is available only if there is injury to the public because of the dereliction of constitutional obligations on the part of the government, a PTI report said.
It set aside orders of the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court setting aside an order of the Akola Municipal Corporation raising the property tax in its jurisdiction after 16 years.
Finding fault with an October 9, 2019 and January 24, 2020, orders of the high court, the bench said the high court was not justified in invoking powers of judicial review in a public interest litigation so as to interfere in the economic policy decision taken by the corporation.
The top court said the public interest litigation before the high court did not call into question the authority or competence of the corporation to revise municipal taxes, and that the grievance was confined exclusively to the procedure and manner adopted in effectuating such revision.
It said the high court transgressed the permissible limits of judicial review in interfering with the decision of the appellant-Corporation to revise the rate of property taxes.
The top court said that for a municipal corporation, the property tax is the main source of revenue to undertake its welfare and developmental activities.