Shah, J. - (1.) With a view to enable him to assess cotton cess payable by the appellants under the Indian Cotton Cess Act, 1923-hereinafter called the Act-the Deputy Commissioner, District Chitradurga, Mysore State purporting to exercise powers under S. 6 of the Act called upon the managing agents of the appellants by letter dated January 13, 1956, to submit in the prescribed from a statement showing the total quantity of cotton consumed or processed in the factory. The appellants declined to carry out the requisition and filed a petition in the High Court of Mysore for a writ of mandamus, prohibition or other appropriate writ, direction or order restraining the Deputy Commissioner, Chitradurga and the State of Mysore from "collecting assessments under the Indian Cotton Cess Act XIV of 1923" in enforcement of the order dated January 13, 1956.
(2.) The sole ground urged in support of the petition was that the appellants were bound to furnish returns under the Act to the Collector who alone could assess the cess, and the Deputy Commissioner not being a "Collector" within the meaning of the Act and not being an officer appointed by the Central Government to perform the duties of the Collector under the Act, the demand for returns was "unconstitutional". The High Court rejected the petition and against that order, this appeal is preferred with certificate of fitness granted by the High Court.
(3.) The area in which the mill of the appellants is situate was originally part of the Indian State of Mysore. The State of Mysore became a Part B State within the Union of India on the promulgation of the Constitution of January 26, 1950. The Act was one of the many enactments of the Indian Legislature applied to the State of Mysore by the "Part B States Laws Act" 3 of 1951. The Act provides for the levy of a cess on cotton and for effectuating that purpose imposed by S. 6 a duty upon the owner of a mill to submit to the Collector monthly returns of cotton consumed or prosessed in the mill. The authority as assess cess is by S. 7 of the Act vested in the "Collector" which expression in the Act means "in reference to cotton consumed in a mill, the Collector of the district in which the mill is situated of an other officer appointed by the Central Government to perform the duties of a Collector under this Act". The powers of the Collector under the Act can therefore be exercised by the Collector of the district in which the mill is situate or by the officer appointed by the Central Government to perform the duties of a Collector. It is common ground that the Central Government has not issued an order appointing the Deputy Commissioners in the Mysore area to exercise powers under the Act. The power to assess cotton cess in the Mysore State area can therefore be exercised by the Collector and no other officer. The expression "Collector of the district" which is a component of the first part of the definition is not defined in the Act. But the General Clauses Act X of 1897 defines "Collector" as meaning "in a Presidency town, the Collector of Calcutta. Madras or Bombay as the case may be and elsewhere the Chief Officer-in-charge of the revenue administration of a district". The revenue administration of a district under the Mysore Land Revenue Code is entrusted to the Deputy Commissioner and he is the chief officer-in-charge of the revenue administration of a district. The Deputy Commissioner is therefore a Collector within the meaning of the General Clauses Act.;