Grover, J. - (1.) This appeal by special leave against a judgment of the Allahabad High Court arises out of a petition filed by the Bar Council of U. P. under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging the amendments made in Art. 30 of Schedule 1-B of the Indian Stamp Act by the U. P. Stamp (Amendment) Acts from 1962 onwards. The points which arise for determination are of some importance to the persons belonging to the legal profession.
(2.) The Advocates Act 1961, hereinafter called the 'Act' was enacted by the Indian Parliament and was published in the Government of India Gazette dated May 19, 1961. By a notification dated August 7, 1961 the Central Government fixed August 16, 1961, as the date on which the provisions of Chapters I, II and VII of the Act were to come into force. The Bar Council of U. P. was constituted thereafter. Another notification was issued on November 24, 1961, by the Central Government bringing into force Chapter III of the Act with immediate effect. Other Chapters were brought into force by subsequent notifications. Under Chapter III the State Bar Council and the Bar Council of India were entrusted with the task of admission and enrolment of advocates. The Bar Council of the State was required to prepare and maintain a roll of advocates as also to enter the names and addresses of those persons who were entered as advocates on the roll of advocates of the High Court under the Indian Bar Council Act 1926 immediately before the appointed date, i.e., December 1, 1961. The State Bar Council had also the duty or the obligation to enter on its roll all other persons who were admitted as advocates under the Act on or after the appointed day. Under Section 24 (1) (f) of the Act the State Bar Council was entitled to admit a person as an advocate on its roll if he paid a fee of Rs. 250/- provided he fulfilled the qualifications prescribed by that section. But by reason of the amendment of Article 30 by the U. P. Stamp Amendment Act, 1962 an additional sum of Rs. 500/- became payable as stamp duty on the entry as an advocate on the State roll of Uttar Pradesh. The next amendment was made by the State Legislature by enacting the Uttar Pradesh Taxation Laws Amendment Act, 1969 which was brought into force by a notification dated September 13, 1969, with effect from October 1, 1969. Clause 3 of Section 3 of the Amendment Act of 1969 amended Article 30 of the Act. By this amendment Stamp Duty of Rs. 500/- was payable on "Certificate of enrolment under Section 22 of the Advocates Act, 1961 issued by the State Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh". The amendment was made with retrospective effect. The latest amendment was made by the Indian Stamp (U. P. Amendment) Act 1970 in Section 11 of the Indian Stamp Act as amended in its application to U. P. For clause (c) the following clause was substituted. " Certificate of enrolment under Section 22 of the Advocates Act, 1961, issued by the State Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh." In Schedule 1-B after Article 17, Article 17-A was inserted. It was in these terms: " Certificate of enrolment under Section 22 of the Advocates Act, 1961, issued by the State Bar Council of Uttar Pradesh." The stamp duty payable has been prescribed at Rs. 250/-. Article 30 was consequently omitted.
(3.) The question which was agitated before the High Court and which has been raised before us is whether the provision made by the State Legislature for imposition of duty on the certificate of enrolment to be issued by the State Bar Council is invalid and unconstitutional in view of the provision in the Act which prescribes a fee of Rs. 250/- only for enrolment as an advocate. In order to decide this question it is essential to advert to the background in which the Act came to be enacted in 1961. The enrolment of legal practitioners as advocates of the High Court was made originally under one of the clauses of the Letters Patent in the case of Chartered High Courts in the Country. So far as the High Courts which were not established by the Royal Charter were concerned Section 41 of the Legal Practitioners Act 1879 provided that such a High Court could from time to time with the previous sanction of the Provisional Government make rules as to the qualifications and admission of proper persons to be advocates of the court and, subject to such rules of the court and, subject to such rules could enrol such and so many advocates as it thought fit.;