Terminal toll on goods in transit rejected where municipal levy did not clearly cover mere passage through toll limits.

A municipal terminal toll was held not leviable on carts carrying goods that merely passed through municipal limits in transit without stopping or remaining within the toll area. The toll language, including references to bringing goods within the toll limits and importing by road through the barriers, was construed as requiring entry with some pause or repose, which was absent on the facts. Applying strict construction of taxing provisions in favour of the subject, the wider levy could not be inferred from the rule or notifications. The conviction for non-payment of toll was therefore set aside and the fine was ordered to be refunded.

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Issues: Whether terminal toll was leviable on carts carrying goods that merely passed through the municipal limits in transit without stopping or remaining within the toll limits.

Analysis: The levy was examined under the municipal rules and notifications framed under the United Provinces Municipalities Act, 1916, which empowered the Local Government and Municipal Board to impose terminal toll and prescribe penalties for breach. The carts were found to have moved through the municipality on their way to another destination and not to have halted within the limits. The words used in the rule and later notifications, including "bring within the toll limits" and "imported by road through all the toll barriers," were read as carrying an element of entry with some pause or repose. Since the goods were only in transit and the carts did not rest within the municipality, the charge was held not to fit the language of the levy. The taxing rule was also required to be construed liberally in favour of the subject, and any wider intention to tax such transit traffic had to be expressed more clearly.

Conclusion: Terminal toll was not leviable on the carts that merely passed through the municipality in transit, and the conviction for non-payment of toll could not be sustained.

Final Conclusion: The application succeeded, the conviction and sentence were set aside, and the fine was ordered to be refunded.

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal terminal toll provision does not apply to goods merely passing through municipal limits in transit unless the language clearly covers such movement, and taxing provisions must be construed strictly and in favour of the subject.

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