The Bombay High Court has held that the sealing of premises for non-payment of property tax is not sanctioned by any provision of the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 or the Rules framed thereunder. In the absence of any such legal authority, the action of the Corporation in sealing the premises was without jurisdiction. Accordingly, the Court directed the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation to forthwith unseal both the godown and the shop premises belonging to a 75-year-old businessman named Lachman Duseja from Ulhasnagar.
The Division Bench comprising Justice Gautam A. Ankhad and Justice Sandesh D. Patil perused the prior orders placed on record and noted that this Court had consistently taken the view that there is no provision under the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act, 1949, or the Rules framed thereunder, which enables the Authority to seal premises for non-payment of property tax. Significantly, the counsel for the Corporation was unable to point to any provision of law entitling it to seal the premises for non-payment of property tax.
Since the petitioner submitted before the Court that he was willing to pay the property tax amount while disputing late payment penalty charges, the Bench granted liberty to the petitioner to pay the property tax (excluding the disputed late payment penalty of both bills) within two weeks from the date of the order. The Respondents were also directed to file their Affidavit-in-Reply, if any, on or before 30th June 2026, following which the issue of late payment penalty charges was to be considered. The matter was listed for hearing on 13th July 2026.
Briefly, the petitioner, a 75-year-old individual, claimed to be the owner and occupier of Shop No. 418 and a godown situated at Shivaji Chowk, Ulhasnagar, where he operated a Vadapav business. The Respondents, alleging arrears of property tax, issued an attachment order dated 30th March 2026 and sealed both the shop and godown premises.
