N.VENKATACHALA - (1.) SPECIAL leave sought for in S. L. P. No. 8870 of 1982 is granted.
(2.) THE State of Madhya Pradesh, its Electrical Adviser and Regional Accounts Officer of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board, have filed the above Civil Appeal under Article 136 of the Constitution of India, impugning a Division Bench judgment and order dated 1/05/1982 of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in Misc. Writ Petn No. 320/80, (reported in AIR 1982 Madh Pra 225), wherein it has been held that the rate of duty payable on consumption of the electrical energy under the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Duty Act, 1949 - "the 1949 Act" in premises of M/s. Birla Jute Manufacturing Company Limited - M/s. Birla Ltd." to which the Mines Act, 1952 - "the Mines Act" applied, was required to be calculated under Item (2) and not Item (1) of Table to Section 3 of the 1949 Act. M/s. Birla Ltd. and its Director, Shri M. M. Gadodia, have filed the above writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, impugning the constitutionality of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Duty (Amendment and Validation) Act, 1984 " the Validation Act" which amended certain provisions of the 1949 Act. validating duty levied on consumption of electrical energy imposed under the 1949 Act in respect of premises to which the Mines Act applied. Since questions argising for our consideration and decision in Civil Appeal and the Writ Petition relate to sustainability of levy imposed under the 1949 Act on electrical energy consumed in a premises to which the Mines Act applied, they could be disposed of together. Facts which are material for a proper consideration of the questions arising for our decision in the said appeal and writ petition, could be stated thus : M/s. Birla Ltd. has set up several industries all over the country for the manufacture and sale of consumable goods. One of such industries set up by M/s. Birla Ltd, is M/s. Satna Cement Works with lime-stone mines at one place and a cement factory at another place, in the State of Madhya Pradesh. Huge lime-stone boulders extracted from the mines known as dhokas are broken into small sized lim-stones known as gittis ' for being used as raw- material for manufacture of cement in the cement factory by a lime-stone crusher erected in a premises located at the mines-head of lime-stone mines to which the Mines Act applies. For the electrical energy consumed by the lime-stone crusher in that premises at mines-head during the year 1979-1980, the Government of Madhya Pradesh levied duty under Section 3 of the 1949 Act at a rate calculated under Item(1) of Table below that section and raised demands thereon, against M/s. Birla Ltd. Such levies and demands were refuted by M/s. Birla Ltd. by contending that it was liable for levy of duty on electrical energy consumed for breaking dhokas into gittis by the lime-stone crusher in the premises at mines-head only at a rate calculated in Item (2) of Table to Section 3 of the 1949 Act, notwithstanding the applicability of the Mines Act to the said premises, in the premises had to be regarded as a factory for fixing the rate of duty payable on electrical energy consumed therein because of inclusive meaning of factory given in Explanation (c) to Section 3 of the 1949 Act itself. Since the Government of Madhya Pradesh in its demands made against M/s. Birla Ltd., the latter filed a Writ Petition, Misc. W. P. No. 520 of 1980, (reported in AIR 1982 Madha Pra 225), in the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the said levies and demands. A Division Bench of the High Court taking the aid of Explanation (c) to Section 3 of the 1949 Act quashed the levies and demands challenged by M/s. Birla Ltd., by upholding the contention that its liability to pay duty was only at the rate calculated under Clause (2) of Table to Section 3 of the 1949 Act, by its judgment and order dated 1/05/1982 rendered in that writ petition. It is the correctness of that judgment and order which has been under challenge in the present appeal filed by the State of Madhya Pradesh, its Electrical Adviser and Regional Accounts Officer of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board.
(3.) WHILE, the correctness of the said judgment and order of the High Court in the present appeal was pending consideration and decision by this Court, the State of Madhya Pradesh enacted and brought into force the aforesaid Validation Act what has been impugned in the present writ petition by M/s. Birla Ltd., is the constitutional validity of that Validation Act. We have heard learned counsel for the contesting parties in the appeal as well as the writ petition. We have been taken through the Judgment of the High Court under appeal and the relevant provisions of the 1949 Act and the Validation Act. Whether the duty leviable on consumption of electrical energy by M/s. Birla Ltd. under Section 3 of the 1949 Act in the premises to which the Mines Act applies is at the rate specified in Item (1) or Item (2) of the Table given below that Section being the main question which needs to be answered by us in deciding the present appeal and the writ petition, we shall proceed to find the answer therefore, at the first instance.;