Municipal octroi cannot be expanded beyond the parent Act, and fresh tax procedure is required for new levy categories.

Municipal octroi rules could not be read to extend the levy to goods brought within the limits for sale only, because the parent statute then confined octroi to goods brought for consumption or use. A construction enlarging the levy beyond that scope would be ultra vires and had to be rejected. The later amendment of the parent Act did not validate or expand rules already sanctioned for the original levy. Treating the extension to a new class of goods as a fresh tax, the Court held that the statutory procedure for imposing tax afresh, including resolution, publication, objections and sanction, had to be repeated. Recovery of octroi on goods imported for sale only was restrained.

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Issues: Whether the existing octroi rules authorised the Municipality to levy octroi on goods brought within the octroi limits for sale only, and whether such levy could be imposed without following the statutory procedure afresh after the amendment of the parent Act.

Analysis: The octroi rules had to be read with the parent municipal statute, under which octroi was, at the relevant time, confined to goods brought within the limits for consumption or use and did not extend to goods brought in for sale. A construction of the rules that purported to authorise levy on sale goods would exceed the rule-making power and render the rules ultra vires, so they had to be construed intra vires and consistently with the Act. The later amendment of the parent Act did not alter the meaning of rules already sanctioned after the Municipality, the inhabitants, and the sanctioning authority had each applied their minds only to the tax as originally framed. An attempt to enlarge the levy to a new category of goods was in substance the imposition of a fresh tax, and the statutory procedure for imposing taxes, including resolution, publication, objections, sanction, and publication of the sanctioned rules, had to be followed again. The complaint of discrimination was not accepted because the factual basis for selective levy was denied and no issue of unequal treatment survived on the materials.

Conclusion: The octroi rules did not authorise levy on goods imported for sale only, and the Municipality could not impose that levy without repeating the statutory procedure for a fresh tax.

Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded and relief was granted restraining recovery of octroi on goods brought in for sale only.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal tax rule cannot be extended by implication beyond the scope of the parent Act, and any substantive enlargement of the levy requires compliance with the statutory procedure for imposing a tax afresh.

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