TOWN MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE AMRAOTI TALIG Vs. RAMCHANDRA VASUDEO CHIMOTE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These three appeals which are on certificates of fitness granted by the High Courts- the first by the High Court of Bombay at Nagpur and the two others by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh-raise a common question as regards the construction of Art. 277 of the Constitution and the validity of certain terminal taxes imposed by the respective appellant municipal authorities under notifications issued under Ch. IX of the C. P. and Berar Municipalities Act, 1922, subsequent to the coming into force of the Constitution, and so have been heard together.

(2.) Civil Appeal 598 of 1962 is an appeal from the High Court of Bombay at Nagpur has been filed by the Municipal Committee of Amravati against a decision of the High Court allowing the 1st respondent's petition under Art. 226 of 227 of the Constitution. The Municipal Committee of Amravati has been established under the C. P. and Berar Municipalities Act, 1922 (C. P. and Berar Act II of 1922) hereinafter referred to as the Act. Chapter IX of the Act deals with the imposition, assessment and collection of taxes which might be imposed by the Municipal Committee. Section 66 specifies the taxes which, subject to the provisions of the Chapter, the Committee may from time to time impose. Its first sub-section specifies in its several clauses 15 varieties of taxes and among them is cl. (o) which reads :

(3.) Subsequent to January 26, 1950, there was a notification on December 1, 1959, under which to the list of goods liable to terminal tax imported into or exported out of the Municipal area not merely by rail but also by road were added three new items- silver and silver jewellery, gold and gold jewellery, and precious stones, and these three specified items were subjected to the tax at the same rates as had been imposed on other articles by the notifications which were in force from before the Constitution. Before the notification was issued the procedure indicated by S. 67 was gone through and the Government accorded their sanction to the rules made by the Municipal Committee for the imposition of the tax on the newly added articles. The validity of the tax imposed by this notification was challenged by the 1st respondent who was carrying on business within Amravati municipality in gold, silver and precious stones on the ground of legislative incompetency which had not been saved by Art. 277 of the Constitution, in a petition under Art. 226. The learned Judges of the High Court by a majority accepted the contention raised by the respondent and allowed the petition but granted a certificate of fitness and hence this appeal. The facts of the other two appeals are nearly similar but we shall refer to them after dealing with the common question which arises in these appeals.