Shelat, J. - (1.) All these four appeals by special leave raise a common question regarding interpretation of S. 11 (1) of the Madras Commercial Crops Markets Act XX of 1933 and R. 28 of the Rules made there under and, therefore, can be disposed of by a common judgment.
(2.) The Act was originally enacted by the Madras Legislature. It was a law in force immediately before the constitution of the State of Andhra Pradesh and governed the territories now forming part of that State. By virtue of Andhra Pradesh Act of 1953 and the Adaptation of Laws Order passed on November 1, 1953 by the State Government of Andhra Pradesh it became applicable to the newly formed State of Andhra Pradesh. By a Notification, dated June 27, 1949 the then Government of Madras, in exercise of the power conferred on it by S. 2 (1) (a), declared coconuts and copra to be commercial crops. Under S. 4 of the Act, the State Government also declared the District of East Godavari as the "notified area" for purposes of the Act in respect of coconuts and copra. By a further notification, dated December 5, 1950, issued under S. 4 (a) of the Act it established a Market Committee at Rajahmundry for the said notified area. The said Market Committee levied the following fees, viz., (1) a licence fee under S. 5 (1) of the Act read with R. 28 (3); (2) a licence fee for storage, wharfage, etc., under S. 5 (3) read with R. 28 (3); (3) a registration fee under S. 18 read with Rule 37 (4) a fee on the said goods bought and sold within the notified area and under S. 11 (1) read with R. 28 (1) and (5) a fee under the same section on consignments of coconut oil.
(3.) Contesting the levy of fees under items 2 to 5 as being illegal on the ground that they sold coconuts and copra to customers outside the notified area and in some cases outside the State, the appellant filed various suits in the Court of the District Munsif, Amalapuram for refund of the said fees collected by the said Committee at different times. The Market Committee resisted the said suits claiming that the aforesaid provisions conferred power upon it to levy the said fees and that the said levy was valid and legal. The said suits were tried together and the District Munsif by his judgment, dated October 17, 1955 inter alia held that the levy under S. 11 (1) read with R. 28 (1) though called a "fee" was really a "tax", that the said provisions empowered the Committee to impose the said tax only when the said goods were bought and sold within the notified area, that the sales effected by the appellants were to customers outside the said area and in some cases outside the State that the Committee had no power to levy and collect the said fees and, therefore, the appellants were entitled to refund of the said fees and accordingly passed decrees in all the suits. In appeals by the Committee, the Subordinate Judge, Amalapuram, held that though the appellants purchased the said goods within the notified area they exported them to their customers outside the notified area and outside the State and relying upon the decision in Kutti Keya vs. State of Madras AIR 1954 Mad 621, he held that though S. 11 (1) called the said levy as fee it was in substance a tax and that such a tax being on sales completed at the places of their customers outside the State offended Art. 286 of the Constitution and was, therefore, illegal. The Subordinate Judge, except for deleting the relief granted in respect of licence fee under S. 5 (3) of the Act, dismissed the appeals and confirmed the judgment and decree of the Trial Court. The Market Committee thereupon filed Second Appeals in the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. Before the High Court the controversy centred round the question of fee under S. 11 (1) only. By its common judgment, dated November 8, 1961 the High Court relying upon the judgment of a Division Bench of that Court in Satyanarayana vs. E. G. C. and T. Market Committee, AIR 1959 Andh Pra 398, held that the word "fee" in S. 11 (1) was in fact a fee and not a tax. The Division Bench also held that the said goods were purchased by the appellants from producers or petty dealers within the notified area and shell sold by them to customers outside the said area or the State, that the transactions which were the subject-matter of the levy under S. 11 (1) were transactions consisting of purchase of the said goods by the appellants and the corresponding sales to them by the producers and petty dealers and not the subsequent sales effected by them to their customers outside the notified area or the State, that, therefore, the transactions on which the said fee was levied were effected and completed inside the notified area and fell within the expression "brought and sold" in S. 11 (1) and, therefore, the Market Committee rightly levied the said fee on those transactions. In the result, the Division Bench allowed the appeals and dismissed the appellants' suits. It is this judgment and decree against which these appeals are directed.;