Coal transit registration fee demand lacked authority, but transit passes and transit fee requirements remained enforceable.

Insistence on registration and payment of registration fee for movement of coal through the State was held to be beyond the authority conferred by the governing forest law and rules. The petitioner, already a registered dealer and using the State only as a transit route, was not required to obtain separate registration for each truck carrying coal, and the demand for registration fee could not be sustained. The separate obligation to obtain transit passes and pay transit fee for coal transportation remained unaffected and continued to apply under the applicable rules.

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Issues: Whether the insistence on registration and payment of registration fee for movement of coal within the State was lawful, and whether the petitioner was required to obtain such registration for each truck carrying coal.

Analysis: The dispute concerned the levy of registration fee by the forest authorities on coal transit through the State, where the petitioner was already a registered dealer and the State was only being used as a passage. The Court followed its earlier decision on the same question and accepted that the insistence for registration and charging of registration fee was beyond the authority conferred on the respondents under the governing forest law and rules. At the same time, the requirement to obtain transit passes and pay transit fee for transportation of coal was kept intact.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not required to obtain registration for movement of coal within the State, and the demand for registration fee could not be sustained; transit passes and transit fee, however, remained payable in accordance with the applicable rules.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition was allowed on the same terms as the earlier binding decision, granting relief against the registration-fee demand while preserving the obligation to comply with the transit-pass and transit-fee regime.

Ratio Decidendi: A demand for registration fee not authorized by the governing forest law and rules cannot be enforced for movement of coal through the State, although the separate statutory requirement of transit passes and transit fee may continue.

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