TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1994 (11) TMI 341
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....he appearing parties. -------------------------------------------------- The judgment of the Court was delivered by R.M. SAHAI, J.-These appeals are directed against the judgment and order of the High Court of Bombay. The appellants are either contractors or are dealers of motor vehicles who have purchased vehicles from outside the State and have brought them in the State of Maharashtra. They are aggrieved by levy of entry tax on such motor vehicles under the Maharashtra Tax on Entry of Motor Vehicles into Local Areas Act, 1987. They challenged it by way of writ petitions in the High Court. It was claimed that the levy was a colourable exercise of the legislative power of the State as entry 52 of List II of the Seven....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....y to the concept of the local area as understood. It was also urged that it being in addition to the tax levied and collected as octroi by a municipal corporation or other local authorities was violative of article 286 of the Constitution. To comprehend the nature of levy it is necessary to extract the objects and reasons appended to the Ordinance which brought out clearly the reason for the legislation: "From 1984 onwards some States and the Union territories adjoining the State of Maharashtra have reduced the rate of sales tax on motor vehicles and chassis substantially. Such reduction in tax rates by the neighbouring States has resulted in diversion of trade to those areas and the manufacturers of motor vehicles in Maharashtra, for wan....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
.... on the purchase value of a motor vehicle an entry of which is effected into a local area for use or sale therein and which is liable for registration in the State under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, at such rate or rates as may be fixed by the State Government by notification in the Official Gazette but not exceeding the rates prescribed for motor vehicles in the Schedules appended to the Bombay Sales Tax Act, or fifteen paise in the rupee whichever is less: Provided that, no tax shall be levied and collected in respect of a motor vehicle which was registered in any Union territory or any other State under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1939, for a period of fifteen months or more before the date on which it is registered in the State under that....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Sri Wad, the learned Senior Counsel, vehemently urged that even assuming that the motor vehicles were brought into State for use or sale the tax could be levied only on the entry of vehicle into a local area. It was urged that the legislation in treating the entire State as local area has gone beyond the permissible limits carved out for it by the Constitution. The learned counsel urged that the power under entry 52 of List II of the Seventh Schedule is to tax goods when it enters into a local area which was managed or administered by the local authority and not by the State. Reliance was placed on Diamond Sugar Mills Ltd. v. State of Uttar Pradesh AIR 1961 SC 652 wherein the U.P. Sugarcane Cess Act, 1956, was held to be ultra vires as it e....