TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2001 (7) TMI 1277
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....bhir, Adv., Mr. U.A. Rana, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar, Adv., Ms. Shalini Mittal, Adv. for, M/s Gagrat & Co., Mr. K.V. Viswanathan, Adv., Mr. K.V. Venkataraman, Adv., Mr. Sudhir Kumar Gupta, Adv., Ms. Sheetal Sharma, Adv., Mr. S. Chakraborty, Adv., Mr. K.V. Sreekumar, Adv., Mr. Ramesh Babu M.R., Adv., Mr. S.K. Gambhir, Sr. Adv., Mr. Anil Sharma, Mr. Awanish Sinha, Advs., Mr. T.N. Singh, Adv., Mr. Anip Sachthey, Adv., Ms. Sandhya Rajpal, Adv., Mr. Arijit Prasad, Adv., Mr. Prakash Shrivastava, Adv., Mr. P.S. Narasimha, Adv., Mr. P. Sridhar, Adv. for, Mr. V.G. Pragasam, Adv., Mr. Badri Prasad Singh, Adv. For Respondent (s) Mr. Shanti Bhushan, Sr. Adv. Mr. A.K. Ganguli, Sr. Adv., Mr. Ravinder Narain, Adv., Mr. A.K. Jain, Adv., Ms. Deepa Das, Adv., Mr. S. Sukumaran, Adv. for, M/s. J.B. Dadachanji & Co., Mr. U.A. Rana, Adv., Mr. Arvind Kumar, Adv., Ms. Shalini Mittal, Adv. for, M/s Gagrat & Co., Mr. M.C. Dhingra, Adv., Mr. Anip Sachthey, Adv., Ms. Sandhya Rajpal, Mr. Arijit Prasad, Advs., Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv., Dr. A.M. Singhi, Sr. Adv., Mr. Syed Shahid Hussain Rizvi, Adv., Mr. K.N. Srivastava, Adv., Ms. Gauri Rasgotra, Adv., Mr. Suman Jyoti Khaitan, Adv., M/s Khaitan & Co., Mr. A.K....
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....demand raised by the state were quashed and the state was restrained from taking any steps to realise such demand. Be it be stated that a batch of writ petitions were filed by several assessees, assailing the legality of the demands raised by the mining authorities for payment of cess in respect of such dues, which would be leviable till 4th of April, 1991. In the batch of cases relating to state of Madhya Pradesh, after the judgment of this court in Kannadasan's case, the state of Madhya Pradesh issued notice to several assessees, raising the demand and such demand was assailed by filing writ petitions in the high court. Applications had been filed in this court for getting those writ petitions transferred, but no order of transfer has been passed by this court and as such the writ petitions are still pending before the high court of Madhya Pradesh and we, therefore, do not propose to deal with those matters, since the high court can well dispose of the same, on the basis of our judgment in the Bihar case. Civil appeal no. 9917 of 1996, however is directed against the judgment of Madhya Pradesh high court dated 10.5.1995. Before the high court, the validity of the ordinance no....
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....e governments to levy and realise tax which were due up to the date of validation, namely, 4.4.1991 and there should not be any embargo on the state's power to realise the same notwithstanding the fact that the life of the validation act was only upto 4.4.1991. This stand of Mr. Dwivedi, learned senior counsel appearing for the state of Bihar was supported by Mr. Chaudhary, appearing for the state of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the state of Karnataka as well as Mr. Mariarputham, appearing for the state of Tamil Nadu. According to Mr. Dwivedi, the judgment of this court in Kannadasan's case squarely covers the point and has rightly been decided and the same does not require any re-consideration. On behalf of different sets of assessees, arguments were advanced by different counsel, particularly by Mr. Shanti Bhushan, Mr. Parasaran, Mr. KK Venugopal, Dr. A.M. Singhvi, Mr. AK Ganguli and Mr. Ranjit Kumar, all senior counsel, and the essential contention was that the parliament in fact came forward with the validation act after different cess acts were struck down on the ground of lack of legislative competence solely to ensure that the levies collected are ....
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....urther hold that the earlier decision of this court in hrs Murthy's case - 1964 (6) supreme court reports 666, has not been correctly decided. Sometime thereafter a three judge bench of this court decided the case of Orissa cement - 1991 suppl. (1) supreme court cases -430, and following the larger bench decision of this court in india cement declared identical levies imposed by the states of Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh to be incompetent and void. The court further held that the decision to be operative prospectively with effect from the date of the judgment i.e. 4.4.1991 so far as the state of Bihar is concerned, and 22.12.1989 so far as Orissa was concerned, the date on which the Orissa high court struck down the levy, and 28.3.1989 so far as Madhya Pradesh was concerned, the date on which the Madhya Pradesh high court struck down the levy. It is after the aforesaid two judgments the parliament came forward initially by promulgating an ordinance, called the cess and other taxes on minerals (validation) ordinance, 1992, and thereafter by replacing the same by act 16 of 1992 which was published in the gazette of India on 4.4.1992. Under section 2 of the validation act the ....
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....cle 14 of the constitution is misconceived as parliament has intervened and by enacting the impugned law in exercise of its undoubted power validated the levy and all that flows from it. (v) the contention of the assessee that the denudation of the power of the state legislature to levy taxes on minerals is not an absolute and unlimited one, is wholly misconceived, particularly in view of the decisions of this court in India cement and Orissa cement. (vi) The Contention of the assessee that the taxes realised by virtue of the validation act can only be realised for the purpose of regulation of mines and minerals development is also based upon a misconception about the law relating to taxes and what is levied under the impugned enactment is a tax/cess and not a fee and as such, it is not necessary that element of quid pro quo should be established in each and every case. (vii) Merely because the levy created by an enactment is limited to a particular period, the act itself cannot be said to be a temporary statute and the act very much continues in force and will remain in force till parliament chooses to repeal it and, therefore, section 6 of the general c....
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....the parliament to legislate retrospectively cannot be disputed. Consequently the parliament had power to legislate on the topic it could make an act on the topic by any drafting means including by referential legislation. (j) there is nothing in the impugned act with regard to the assignment of the taxes collected or its distribution between the states. It cannot therefore be urged that any provision in the impugned act runs contrary to the constitutional scheme with regard to the assignment to the states of the taxes realised, or their distribution between the states. (k) considering the background, facts and having regard to the purpose for which the law was passed and the objective sought to be achieved it cannot be said that the validation act was discriminatory merely because different rates of cess on royalty were prescribed for different states. The dominant objective of the act was to validate the levies already made, and not to legislate on the subject by naming a law imposing cess on royalty. It was because of this objective which the law sought to achieve, that the law was given a limited life i.e. till 4th April, 1991. The legislative history and the m....
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....pril, 1991 would not stand as a bar on levy and collection of the cess and taxes on minerals and any tax or cess, which is validly leviable under a valid law could be collected even after the expiry of the law in question. The high court, therefore, was in error in limiting the provisions of section 2(1) of the validation act by making reference to the statement of object and reasons. Mr. Dwivedi further contended that the preamble also unequivocally indicates that the act is to validate the imposition and collection of cess and certain other taxes on minerals under certain state laws. Necessarily, therefore, the right to impose the levy and collect the same by virtue of the validation act, cannot be nullified or taken away, merely because the act had its life till 4th of April, 1991. Mr. Dwivedi also further contended that the act itself having been enacted on 4th of April, 1992, the date on which it received the assent of the president and was published in the gazette of India and indicating therein that the enactment in question must be deemed to have been made by parliament and keeping the provisions valid upto 4th of April, 1991 is clearly suggestive of the fact that the parli....
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.... quarrel with the constitutional proposition engrafted in article 265 of the constitution that levy and collection should be by authority of law. But in respect of minerals extracted upto 4th of April, 1991, if any cess or tax is to be levied and collected in accordance with the machinery provided for the same, that right of the state will not get frustrated, merely because the legislation in question in the eye of law was effective till 4th of April, 1991. The counsel urged that what the parliament intended, is that the state could levy and collect cess on minerals extracted till 4th of April, 1991, but would not be entitled to make any levy or collect cess on minerals extracted subsequent to 4th of April, 1991. According to Mr. Dwivedi, even while the relevant act was struck down by the judgment of this court in Orissa Cement's' Case, in the very judgment, it was indicated that there would be no liability on the part of the state to refund the cess already collected till the date of the judgment i.e. 4.4.1991, and it was unnecessary for the parliament to include that act in the schedule and validate the provisions of the act by a deeming fiction of enactment by the parlia....
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....ter of balancing such public interest, it would be unreasonable to hold that persons from whom tax could not be collected would be in a better position than the persons from whom the tax had already been collected. On the other hand, it would be more logical to hold that liability to pay the tax on the minerals extracted upto 4th of April, 1991 would be uniformly applied and, therefore, the state would have the right to make the levy and collect the same. With reference to the various validating acts and the pattern of validation, as demonstrated by the assessees, Mr. Dwivedi contends that while construing the provisions of a particular statute, the language used in that statute is of paramount consideration inasmuch the intention of the legislature is well expressed in the language used. Further the decision of this court in joura sugar mills, 1966(1) S.C.R. 523, and the ratio therein would squarely apply to the case in hand and, therefore, it would be only reasonable to construe that the state could recover all the cess and tax on minerals, which would be found due upto 4.4.91 and there should not be any fetter on the power of the state to collect such dues merely because the lif....
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....d collection of the dues which would be collectable upto 4.4.1991. 11. Mr. Shanti Bhushan, learned senior counsel appearing for the assessee in Bihar case contended that article 265 of the constitution puts an embargo that no tax could be levied or collected except by an authority of law, and if, law in question never remained in force after 4.4.1991 then the question of conferring right upon the state to levy or collection does not arise. The right to levy and collection, which was there with the state having disappeared with effect from 4.4.1991, the date on which the life of the act expires, unless there is any provision conferring the right upon the state to make levy or collect any levy, that collection would be without the authority of law and would contravene article 265 of the constitution. According to Mr. Shanti Bhushan, section 2(1) of the validation act cannot be held to be an enactment and repeal, as contended by Mr. Dwivedi, appearing for the state of Bihar. The learned counsel urged that it is true that in view of the judgment of this court in Orissa cement's case it was not necessary for the parliament to make the enactment, but merely because it was so enact....
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....on it would be wholly illegal to hold that the state can make levy and collect tax even after 4.4.1991 in respect of the dues which were collectable upto that date. According to Mr. Parasaran, the parliament came forward by fictionally enacting provisions of different state laws dealing with the tax and cess on minerals as an act of balancing public interest, as otherwise it was felt that it would be a severe blow on the state revenue if the state is required to refund the taxes and cess already collected. It is thus contended by Mr. Parasaran that the judgment of this court in kannadasan is erroneous and it must be held that by the validation act, state would not be liable to refund the cess already collected but no right can be said to have been conferred upon the state to make any further levy or collection in respect of dues collectable up to 4.4.91, as was held in kannadasan's case. 13. Mr. K. K. Venugopal, learned senior counsel appearing for the respondent hindalco in special leave petition no. 13106 of 1996, contended with vehemence, that in India cement's case as well as in Orissa cement's case the question for consideration was whether the state legislature....
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....ed and were bound to refund the monies collected from the respective states from the date of the judgment of the high court, which would have ruinous consequences on the states' economy. When the state governments apprised these problems to the central government, the parliament intervened and to save the state governments from refunding the monies collected, enacted the cess and other taxes on minerals (validation) act, 1992 to validate imposition and collection of such levies under the state laws which were declared void by the court. The statement of object and reasons of the validation act unequivocally proclaims that the act was promulgated to validate collection of such levies by the state governments upto 4th of April, 1991. The date 4.4.91 was chosen because on that date, the supreme court delivered the judgment in Orissa cement case. To bring about the uniformity among all the states, the cut off date was selected in the validation act as 4.4.91. Parliament also consciously did not desire or choose to prescribe different dates for different states in the schedule to validation act containing 11 enactments in respect of 7 states. The parliament, thus devised the method ....
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....w in existence, which could authorise collection of the levy of cess and taxes on minerals, it is difficult to comprehend how the state could be permitted to make the levy and collection of the dues subsequent to 4.4.91. According to dr. Singhvi, any interpretation of the provisions of the validation act, authorising realisation of levy after 4.4.91 for the past period would be contrary to equity, justice and fair-play. 15. Mr. Ganguli, the learned senior counsel, appearing for the Indian aluminium co. Ltd., respondent in SLP(civil) no. 13104 of 1996 as well as intervenor India cement, contended that the judgment in Kannadasan's case is erroneous in the teeth of the provisions of section 2(2) of the validation act which validates only "cesses or other taxes on minerals realised under any such laws". According to Mr. Ganguli, the judgment in Kannadasan, runs contrary to the purpose and intent of the validation act, as indicated in the statement of objects and reasons and the limited purpose of the validation act is to declare that enactments mentioned in the schedule thereto be deemed to have been enacted by the parliament and be deemed always to have been valid, as regards t....
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....lauses act be made applicable to the validation act and hence chose to enact a limited saving clause, as contained in sub-section (3) of section 2. This being the position, the Patna high court was fully justified in interpreting the provisions of the validation act and in holding that there is no right in the state to make any fresh levy or collection and only the levies already collected would not be refunded. According to Mr. Ganguli, the enactments mentioned in the schedule remained in force only upto 4th of April, 1991 and, therefore, neither there would be any charging provision, nor machinery under the act mentioned in the schedule after 4th of April, 1991, which would authorise the state to make any levy or collection of tax referable to the period prior to 4th of April, 1991. According to Mr. Ganguli, the decision of this court in kannadasan, relying upon the constitution bench decision in jaora sugar mills' case, must be held to be erroneous, as specific provisions contained in section 3 of the act in jaora sugar mills' case have not been properly appreciated. With reference to sub-section (3) of section 2, Mr. Ganguli contends that the same is an exception to the....
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....equired to be refunded. According to the learned counsel, the relevant state laws, which became the central law by virtue of fictional re-enactment, undoubtedly are temporary act and after the expiry does not allow any further action under the expired act. In support of this contention, the learned counsel placed reliance on the statutory interpretation by Francis Bennion, first edition, paragraph 178 as well as craies on statute law at pages 407-409. With reference to the observations made by this court in Kannadasan that the act must be held to be an act by incorporation, Mr. Ranjit Kumar submitted that the legislation by incorporation of provisions in the act has been held to be archival drafting in the words of Francis Bennion, where the learned author states: "the technique of incorporation has received so much judicial and other criticism that it is seldom used today". The learned author further states : "the technique may be called archival drafting because it requires persons applying the act after a considerable period has elapsed since the relevant date to engage in historical research in order to find out what the law thus imported amounts to". Mr. Ranjit Kumar also plac....
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....sessee having not collected the cess from the end user, would be required to pay the same, in view of the interpretation given by this court in Kannadasan's case, and such a view will be wholly unreasonable and would be beyond the object for which the parliament intervened and validated, to save the state governments from a difficult financial situation. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, lastly submitted that the judgment of this court in Kannadasan must be held to be wrongly decided and must have to be reconsidered. 17. Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, appearing for Bharat coking coal limited, petitioner in SLP (civil) no. 7555 of 1998, submitted that the validation act was to confer the authority of law to meet the requirement of article 265 of the constitution . The said need arose as the state was denuded of its competence and jurisdiction to levy cess on royalty in the occupied field under the MMRD Act, 1957. He also brought to our notice the fact that with effect from the date of the judgment of the high court on 6.11.90, the petitioner company stopped the collection of cess from the consumers and the order/judgment of the high court dated 6.11.90 was assailed by the state of Bihar in civil appe....
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.... legislature had enacted different statutes conferring right of levy and collection of cess and taxes on minerals, and the supreme court came to the conclusion that the state legislature did not have the right to make law conferring right to levy and collection on minerals as the field had been occupied by the union legislature on the enactment of the mines and minerals regulation and development act, 1957. The judgment of this court in India cement as well as in Orissa cement necessarily lead to a situation whereunder not only the 11 acts mentioned in the schedule of the validation act were declared null and void, but also the collections made under such invalid law became refundable. It is no doubt true, that in Orissa cement case the supreme court borne in mind the principle of prospective over-ruling, as had been done in Golaknath's case, indicated the dates with effect from which the judgment would operate but the acts having been declared null and void the state governments became apprehensive that a huge amount of tax, already collected under laws, for which state legislatures did not have the competence to legislate would be required to be refunded. The parliament also ....
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....both literal and purposive approaches. In other words the legislative intention i.e., the true or legal meaning of an enactment is derived by considering the meaning of the words used in the enactment in the light of any discernible purpose or object which comprehends the mischief and its remedy to which the enactment is directed. The aforesaid principle was enunciated and applied by this court in the case of state of Himachal Pradesh vs. Kailash Chand Mahajan - 1992 suppl. (2) SCC 351. Lord Somervell in the case of attorney-general vs. HRH Prince Ernest Augustus (1957) 1 all er 49 has stated "the mischief against which the statute is directed and, perhaps though to an undefined extent the surrounding circumstances can be considered. Other statutes in pari materia and the state of the law at the time are admissible." it is also a cardinal principle of construction that external aids are brought in by widening the concept of context as including not only other enacting provisions of the same statute, but its premble, the existing state of law, other statutes in pari materia and the mischief which the statute was intended to remedy. Chinnappa Reddy, j. In the reserve bank of India vs....
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....his conclusion of ours is based on, not only the language used in section 2(1) but also the statement of objects and reasons, which clearly enunciates the same. The statements of objects of reasons is extracted hereinbelow in extenso:- "Statement of Objects and Reasons.-certain state acts imposing cesses and other taxes on minerals had been struck down by courts including the supreme court of India in different cases. As a result of judgments in these cases, state government became liable to refund cesses and other taxes collected by them. Since refund was likely to have a serious impact on state revenues of the concerned state governments and having regard to the fact that it is extremely difficult to ensure that the levies collected are refunded to the large number of end users of minerals who have actually borne the burden of such levies, the cess and other taxes on minerals (validation) ordinance, 1992 (ord. 7 of 1992) was promulgated by the president on the 15th February, 1992, to validate collection of such levies b by state governments up to the 4th day of April, 1991." 21. Though Mr. Dwivedi, the learned senior counsel, appearing for the state of bihar, contende....
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....ht to make levy and collection of cess or taxes on minerals which was collectable up to 4th April, 1991, as was held in Kannadasan's case, but it merely validated the collections already made so that the state will not be burdened with the liability of refunding the amount, already collected under void law. In our considered opinion, therefore, the earlier decision in Kannadasan's case to the contrary must be held to have been not correctly decided. 22. At this stage it would be appropriate to discuss the provisions of article 265 of the constitution and its impact on the interpretation of the validation act. Under article 265 of the constitution, no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law. It is thus explicit that not only the levy, but also the collection of a tax must be under the authority of some law. The authority of law refers to a valid law which in turn would mean that the tax proposed to be levied must be within the legislative competence of the legislature, imposing the tax and the law must be validly enacted. It must not also contravene the specific provisions of the constitution and the tax in question must be authorised by such valid law....
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....nce and that legislative competence has been purported to have been conferred by virtue of a deeming enactment by parliament and further enacting that such provisions shall be deemed to have been remained in force upto the 4th day of April, 1991. A statute can be said to be either perpetual or temporary. It is perpetual when no time is fixed for its duration and such a statute remains in force until its repeal which may be express or implied. But a statute is temporary when its duration is only for a specified time and such a statute expires on the expiry of the specified time, unless it is repealed earlier. The relevant provisions of the different state laws relating to cesses or taxes on minerals having been deemed to have been enacted by parliament and having been deemed to have remained in force upto 4th day of April, 1991 under the validation act, those laws relating to cesses or taxes on minerals must be held to be temporary statute in the eye of law. Necessarily, therefore, its life expired and it would be difficult to conceive that notwithstanding the expiry of the law itself, the collecting machinery under the law could be operated upon for making the collection of the ces....
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....d not revive on the expiry of the ordinance, that was repelled by this court, that the right that had been created by the statute namely the validating ordinance, is of an enduring character and has vested in the person concerned, namely the voters, a right to vote as well as the elected councilors. That right cannot be taken away merely because the ordinance has lapsed, since the object of the ordinance was to remove the invalidity permanently. It is in that context the court observed that if the right created by a statute is of an enduring nature and has vested in the person, that right cannot be taken away, because the statute by which it created has expired. In applying that principles to the facts of that case, the court observed: "In our opinion, having regard to the object of the ordinance and to the rights created by the validating provisions, it would be difficult to accept the contention that as soon as the ordinance expired the validity of the elections came to an end and their invalidity was revived. The rights created by this ordinance are, in our opinion, very similar to the rights with which the court was dealing in the case of Stevenson and they must be hel....
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.... court in Hansraj Moolji's case, 1957 s.c.r. 634. A second ordinance was promulgated, repealing the earlier one on 26th of April, 1947 and in the repealing ordinance, an express term was there, making the provisions of section 6 of the general clauses act, shall apply in respect of the repeal. The question arose whether after expiry of the life of the repealing ordinance on November 01, 1947, what would be its effect in respect of the liability continued in respect of the past transactions? This court held that the repealing ordinance had continued the life of the original, which was a permanent one, in respect of past transactions and, therefore, the expiry of its life(life of repealing ordinance) could not have any effect on that law to the extent saved, and, therefore, it must be held to have continued to have force under article 372 of the constitution, until it was altered, repealed or amended by competent legislature, and consequently, it cannot be said that the coal cess was levied or collected without the authority of law. We fail to understand how this decision will be of any assistance to the case in hand, where the original law namely the cess act of 1880, as applica....
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....o it under the validation act by a fictional enactment of the laws by parliament and keeping it alive till 4th April, 1991, can at all be said to have created any right on the state to levy and collect the cess and tax on minerals which can be held to be of enduring nature so as to enable the state to levy and collect even after the expiry of the state laws in question. Consequently, the aforesaid decision is also of no assistance to the state of Bihar. The only other case relied upon by Mr. Dwivedi is the case of T. Venkata Reddy and others vs. State of Andhra Pradesh - 1985 (3) SCC 198. In this case by virtue of promulgation of an ordinance certain posts were abolished, but the ordinance could not be made an act as the state legislature did not approve of the same. The question for consideration was whether after the expiry of the life of an ordinance, the post which stood abolished can be said to have been revived? This court, on examining the provisions of section 3 of the ordinance itself came to hold that the post of part-time village officers stood abolished on 6th January, 1984 and the employees ceased to be employees of the state government. These matters became accomplish....
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....t is true, as Mr. Dwivedi contended that there was no necessity for including the Bihar act in the schedule, since the parliament was enacting the act only till 4.4.1991, but since several state laws were being re-enacted and 4.4.91 was the last date of the judgment of this court in Orissa cement, it was thought fit to have the legislation effective till 4.4.91 but for the limited purpose, so that the state would not be liable to refund any cess which it might have collected even subsequent to the relevant state laws having been declared unconstitutional. We find sufficient force also in the contention of Mr. K.K. Venugopal that the law never existed after 4.4.1991 and consequently, there cannot be any right with the state to make any levy or collection of the cess, which was collectable upto 4.4.91. Mr. Venugopal is right in his submission that under the validation act, only past actions have been sought to be validated and that too by a fictional enactment of the state laws by the parliament, keeping it alive till 4.4.91. There is also some force in the contention of Mr. Venugopal that even if there might have been an imposition of levy but not collected, the same cannot be colle....
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.... levy or collection after 4.4.91, we are of the opinion that the act never conferred a right of levy or collection after 4.4.91. The judgment of Patna high court, therefore, must be held to be in accordance with law and the judgment of this court in Kannadasan's case must be held to have been wrongly decided. 26. In Kannadasan's case, this court while interpreting the validation act, held that the act authorises levy and collection even after 4.4.91, as otherwise, it will be held to be discriminatory and violative of article 14 inasmuch as if two persons would be equally liable to pay, the person who has paid the tax would be at the disadvantage, than the person, who did not pay and challenge the demand this reasoning of the court in Kannadasan runs contrary to the observations of this court in mafatlal industries, 1997(5) SCC 536, while this court dealing with the principle of unjust enrichment, categorically stated that a person who has not paid and has successfully challenged the demand in a court of law stands on a different footing from a person who has chosen to pay and has not challenged the same. We are, therefore, of the considered opinion that this court errone....
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....ose the levy and collection of the same from 1964, it would work out gross injustice to the assessee and even would run contrary to the very judgment of the court inter-parties. Though this contention may not be a clinching issue in interpreting the provisions of the validation act, but it cannot be totally lost sight of, and if any other interpretation is permissible, then the same must be adhered to, particularly, in relation to a taxing statute. We do find considerable force in the aforesaid submission, as in our view, the interpretation, we have already given to the validation act was the real intention of the parliament and it never intended to confer a right of collection of cess. In agreement with the conclusion arrived at by Patna high court, we hold the validation act to be valid, but such validated acts do not authorise any fresh levy or collection in respect of liabilities accrued prior to 4.4.91, though it prohibits refund of the collection already made prior to that date. 28. In view of our conclusions, as aforesaid, we do not find any infirmity with the conclusion of the division bench of Patna high court requiring our interference with the same. The said judgment ....