WEST END MINERALS AND EXPORTS P LTD Vs. HUBLI DHARWAR MUNICIPAL CORPORATION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) As common questions of law arise for determination in these cases, I propose to dispose of them by a common order.

(2.) The Petitioners in Writ Petitions Nos. 85 of 1976 and 3100 of 1977 who are the principal and sub-transport contractors respectively for carrying iron ore from Hubli railway station to Karwar-Belikere ports in their public carrier vehicles commonly called as 'lorries' or 'trucks', challenge the imposition of a fee called 'supervision fee, levied by the Hubli Dharwar Municipal Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) at the rate of Rs. 2/- truck per journey.

(3.) Iron ore is extracted-from Bellary/Hospet Mines by a Karnataka Government company called 'the Mysore Minerals Limited' (hereinafter referred to as the MML). Another Government company called "the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India Limited' (hereinafter referred to as the MMTC) has entered into a contract with MML and the Government of Karnataka, to import iron ore of the quantity of about five to six lakhs tons annually from Karwar/Belikere, ports situated in the State of Karnataka. One of the terms of the contract between the MMTC and MML is that such iron ore should be made available at the aforesaid two ports for shipments to foreign countries. But, in order to enable the shipment of the iron ore to foreign countries, iron ore will be transported from Bellary to Hubli by rail and from Hubli to Karwar/Belikere which are not connected by train facilities by trucks owned by the petitioners, under a 'contract entered into by them with the. MMTC and MML. The term of the contract that is material for these cases reads thus: