- (1.) These appeals, by special leave, have been filed against the judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh dated November 6, 1979 whereby the writ petition filed by the appellants was dismissed. In the said writ petition the appellants had assailed the validity of the notification dated August 10, 1973 issued by the Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Indore, for imposition of tax on advertisements other than advertisements published in the newspapers.
(2.) The Municipal Corporation, Indore [hereinafter referred to as 'the Municipal Corporation] is a municipal corporation constituted under the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 [hereinafter referred to as 'the Act]. The Municipal Corporation has been empowered to impose tax on advertisements other than advertisements published in newspapers under clause (l) in sub-section (2) of Section 132 of the Act. Section 133 of the Act prescribes the procedure for imposing a tax under Section 132. Sub-section (1) of Section 133, as it stood at the relevant time, provided as follows:- "(1) The Corporation may at a special meeting bring forward a resolution to propose the imposition of any tax under Section 132 defining the class of persons or description of property proposed to be taxed, the amount or rate of tax to be imposed and the system of assessment to be adopted; Provided that no such resolution shall be passed by the Corporation for the imposition of any tax coming under (clause (o) of Sub-section (2) of Section 132 unless the Government shall have first given their approval to the selection of the tax by the Corporation." By order No. 362 dated September 7, 1970, the Administrator of the Municipal Corporation, exercising the powers of the Corporation, declared that tax is allowed to be imposed on all other advertisements except those published in the newspapers and that the tax shall be paid to the Municipal Corporation by the owners, secretary, manager or such person or persons, on the advertisements which they made by posters or exhibitions. The said order was published as required under Section 133(2) of the Act. After considering the objections received against the said proposal the Administrator passed the final order No. 919 dated November 4, 1992 and thereafter the impugned notification dated August 10, 1973 was issued wherein it was stated that the Advertising Tax shall be realised from the date of its publication in the Government Gazette.
(3.) The main contention urged by the appellants before the High Court was that the resolution proposing the imposition of a tax under Section 132 should contain the system of assessment to be adopted and that in the present case the order dated September 7, 1970 which was published under Section 132(2) did not provide for the system of assessment to be adopted. According to the appellants the expression "system of assessment" in Section 133(1) connotes the procedure for assessment and collection of tax and that the procedure for assessment for collection of tax was specified only on August 18, 1978, when the bye-laws for assessment and collection of tax framed by the Municipal Corporation vide notification dated May 31, 1978 were published. It was, therefore, submitted that the imposition of tax under the impugned notification was invalid since there was non-compliance of the provisions of sub-section (1) of Section 133 of the Act.;