TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2006 (11) TMI 620
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....cle used or kept for use in a public place in the State. (2) The notification issued under sub-section (1) shall specify the class of motor vehicles on which, the rates for the periods at which, and the date from which, the tax shall be levied: Provided that the rates of tax shall not exceed the maximum specified in column (2) of the First Schedule in respect of the classes of motor vehicles fitted with pneumatic tyres specified in the corresponding entry in column (1) thereof; and one a half times the said maximum in respect of such classes of motor vehicles as are fitted with non-pneumatic tyres." In the Schedule appended to the Act, the rate of tax for Maxi Cab permitted to carry more than six passengers but not more than twelve....
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....rule of strict construction applies only to the charging section of the Act and not to the machinery provisions. Drawing our attention to the fact that Maxi Cabs come within the purview of the "contract carriage", the learned counsel would contend that the provisions must be construed having regard to the charging provision contained in Section 3 of the Act as also the rate of tax imposed on "contract carriage". It was submitted that casus omissus can also be supplied in a case where there is a clear necessity or where construction of a statute leads to an absurdity or would run contrary to the plain intention of the legislature. The Act enacted by the State provides for a compensatory nature of tax. A statute involving compensator....
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....statute, construction thereof applying the principles of noscitur a sociis and ejusdem generis would not apply. The rate of tax was fixed at Rs. 1,000/-. That was a tax on the specified motor vehicle. The tax was not to be calculated on passenger basis. It may be that the provisions preceding thereto impose a tax on passenger. But, they were in relation to motor vehicles which are used for different purposes. A Maxi Cab although would come within the purview of "contract carriage" but it cannot carry more than twelve passengers. It is a class within the class of "contract carriage". Once the rate of tax is fixed and the same had been realized, any notification enhancing the rate thereof cannot be permitted to transgress the statutory ....
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..... The question as to whether it can be given effect to or not is, thus, required to be judged on its own without reference to the circular issued by the Commissioner of Excise. Casus omissus, it is well known, cannot be supplied by the court. (See P.T. Rajan v. T.P.M. Sahir)" Gray in 'The Nature and Sources of the Law' (2nd ed. 1921 pp 172- 73) observed thus: "Interpretation is generally spoken of as if its chief function was to discover what the meaning of the Legislature really was. But when a Legislature has had a real intention, one way or another, on a point, it is not once in a hundred times that any doubt arises as to what its intention was ... The fact is that the difficulties of so-called interpretation arise when the Legisla....
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.... clause (iv) of the first proviso gave them an option to wait till the last instalment was payable. The scheme of the instalments took the matter out of the main part of sub-section (7) and brought it within the proviso to clause (iv)\005" Clause (iv) of the proviso appended to Sub-section (7) of Section 46 of the Income Tax Act, 1922 came up for consideration therein which reads as under: "Save in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) of Section 42 or to the proviso to Section 45, no proceedings for the recovery of any sum payable under this Act shall be commenced after the expiration of one year from the last day of the financial year in which any demand is made under this Act: Provided that the period of one year here....
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....ts of a statute or section must be construed together and every clause of a section should be construed with reference to the context and other clauses thereof so that the construction to be put on a particular provision makes a consistent enactment of the whole statute. This would be more so if literal construction of a particular clause leads to manifestly absurd or anomalous results which could not have been intended by the Legislature\005" Given this plain meaning to the provisions referred to hereinbefore, in our opinion, the rate of tax could not be increased in derogation to the proviso appended to Section 3 of the Act. The notification in our opinion as it seeks to change the basis of the mode of taxation is illegal and, thus, ca....