LAWS(PVC)-1939-8-96

BIJAYNAGAR TEA CO LTD Vs. INDIAN TEA LICENSING COMMITTEE

Decided On August 01, 1939
BIJAYNAGAR TEA CO LTD Appellant
V/S
INDIAN TEA LICENSING COMMITTEE Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal by the Bijaynagar Tea Company Ltd., against the order of the Indian Tea Licensing Committee, dated 14 October 1938, under which the crop basis of their estate was calculated to be 196524 lbs. Similar appeals have been filed by the Malhati Tea Syndicate Ltd., and by the Kadambini Tea Co. Ltd., against the orders of the Indian Tea Licensing Committee under which the crop basis of those estates was fixed for the year 1938-39, but, as the points at issue between the appellant companies and the committee are the same in each of these cases, it has been agreed between the parties that these appeals will be governed by the decision in the appeal which has been filed on behalf of Bijaynagar Tea Company Ltd. Both the parties to the present appeal have dispensed with proof of the documents reproduced in the brief which has been prepared for the use of the Court and they have also agreed to admit in evidence the Administration Report of the Indian Tea Licensing Committee for the period from 1 April 1933 to 31 March 1938. The case for the Bijaynagar Tea Company Ltd., is to the effect that they have an area of 328.94 acres under tea which had been planted between 1926 and 1932; the major portion of the estate consisting of 280 acres had been planted in 1926- 27 whereas the remaining portions had been planted in the succeeding years. The appellant company maintain that, contrary to the provisions of the Tea Control Act, 1938, they had been allotted an export quota for the year 1938-1939 on a crop basis of 1,96,524 lbs. only. This figure had been calculated in the following way:

(2.) The company maintain that, upon a correct application of the principles laid down in Schedule 1 to Act 8 of 1938, their crop basis for the year 1938-39 would be as follows: (a) Under Clause (1) of the Schedule to the Act: (b)Under Clause (2) of the Schedule to the Act:

(3.) The above claim is made on the assumption that Rule 4(b), Tea Control Rules, 1938, is ultra vires of the statute. On the assumption however that the abovementioned rule is intra vires, the company claim that they are entitled, in any event, to certain allowances for young areas calculated at several alternative rates which are mentioned in their statement of claim. In this connexion, it was admitted by the learned Advocate-General of Bengal during the course of his arguments that, if Rule 4(b) of the 1938 rule is found to be intra vires, the committee would be justified in deducting 19,576 lbs., on account of the statutory allowance for young clearings, from the figure of 28,014 lbs. mentioned in para. 18 of the statement of claim. His final contention as regards the allowance due to the estate under Clause (2) of the Schedule to the 1938 Act was that the estate would in any event be entitled to an allowance under this head, the amount of which would depend upon the view taken as to the deduction which might be made on account of (1) the yield which the young areas contributed to the production of the estate in 1932 and (2) the hardship allowance of 42,000 lbs. granted to the estate in 1937-38.