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2024 (12) TMI 1304
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....-I-A No MRT/EXCUS/000/APPL-MRT/41 & 42/2019-20 dated 22.5.2019 has also held similarly in the case of FAIZ TRAVELS, Meerut. The said order of Commissioner (Appeals) Meerut has been brought on record. The ratio of the said decision of Hon'ble CESTAT Allahabad is squarely applicable to the facts of the instant case Relying on the same, Commissioner (Appeals) Meerut has also held accordingly Therefore, following the principle of judicial discipline, I hold that demand of service tax on account of tour operator service in respect of Haj and Umra is not sustainable. 6. Regarding demand of service tax amounting to Rs 8413/ on account of Legal consultancy service, the appellant argues that the impugned payments were made to the Chartered accountant and not to advocates. This fact was also submitted before the adjudicating authority, as recorded in para 38 of the impugned order. However, there is no evidence on record to show that the impugned amount was indeed made to advocate for Legal consultancy service. Thus, there is no ground to levy service tax on the same. 7. From Table-5 and Table-6 of the impugned order, it is apparent that the aggregate amounts received in....
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.... upon M/s Chishti Travel & Tour, 88/185, Chaman Ganj, Kanpur, under the provisions of Section 77(1)(b), (c), (d), (e) & 2 of the Finance Act 1994 as amended read with Section 174 of the Central Goods & Service Tax Act 2017 for the reasons discussed above. (4) I impose a penalty of Rs 67,67,516/- (Rs. Sixty Seven Lacs Sixty Seven Thousand Five Hundred Sixteen only)upon M/s Chishti Travel & Tour, 88/185, Chaman Ganj, Kanpur, under the provisions of Section 78 of the Finance Act 1994 as amended read with Section 174 of the Central Goods & Service Tax Act 2017." 2.3 Aggrieved respondent have filed appeal before Commissioner (Appeals), who allowed the appeal in favour of the respondent. 2.4 Aggrieved revenue has filed this appeal on the following grounds:- "1. The Commissioner (Appeal) Allahabad while allowing the appeal and set aside the O- in-O has placed reliance on the Tribunal Final Order No. Final Order No.70767/2019 dated 10.4.2019 in the case of M/s National Tour & Travels Agency Rampur. It is relevant to mention that the Tribunal while passing the order in the case of M/s National Tour & Travels Agency has placed reliance in the case of M/s Cox & Kings I....
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....ment of Service Tax under the provisions of Section 75 of the Finance Act, 1994 read with Section 174 of the Central Goods & Service Tax Act 2017 for the period. starting from the due date of payment till the actual payment of Service Tax on appropriate rates. iii. Whether Penalty not be imposed upon them under the provisions of sub Section (1) (a), (b), (c) (i)(ii) & (iii), (d), (e) & (2) of Section 77 & Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1944 read with Section 174 of the Central Goods & Service Tax Act 2017 for the reasons discussed hereinabove. 44. To arrive at the correct position I have examined the defence reply of the party dated 03.05.2018 as well as submissions made at the time of personal hearing. The party in their defence reply specifically discussed about the exemption available to Haj Pilgrimage or Umrah. They have submitted that the provisions of Sections 65(105)(n) and 66 of the Finance Act, 1994, Rule 3(2) of Export of Service Rules, 2005, Section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994, Rules GA of The Service Tax Rules, 1994 and Rule 8 of place of Provision of Services Rules, 2012 are not applicable on the Haj/Umrah Group organizers' services. In support o....
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....Tour, 88/185, Chaman Ganj, Kanpur in their defence dated 03.05.2018 has claimed that such tour are related to Huj and Umrah Tours also called as lesser pilgrimage or Umrah which are exempted from Service Tax. In this support they have referred to Notification No 25/2012- ST (S.No. 5) wherein to conduct any religious Ceremony is exempted. 50. I have examined the issue relating to Tour operator Service for the pilgrimage/Umrah/to conduct any religious Ceremony as referred to in the defence. It is worth to mention that "Conduct of any religious ceremony" as referred to at Sl. No. 5 of Notification No 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012 has no relevancy to the Tour Operator Services for Huj pilgrimage or Umrah as submitted by the party. 51. Further Notification No. 25/2012-ST dated 20.06.2012 provides the following exemption in relation to the Tour Operator Services: a: "SA. Services by a specified Organization in respect of religious pilgrimage facilitated by the Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India, under bilateral arrangement, (Added by Notification No 17/2014 dated 20.08.2014) b. B. 42. Services provided by a tour operator to a foreign....
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....of the definite opinion that M/s Chishti Travel & Tour, 88/185, Chaman Ganj, Kanpur had been simply a tour operators and they have no relevancy with the Haj Pilgrimage or Umrah as claimed by them in their defence and accordingly the demand is sustainable and required to be confirmed. 58. It is also on records that at no point of time M/s Chishti Travel & Tour, 88/185, Chaman Ganj, Kanpur have claimed the deduction with supportive evidences and therefore the request in this regard is not sustainable at the same time CENVAT Facilities had been. available to them which they have failed to claim during the relevant period. 59. Further with regard to availability of the exemption of Rs 10 Lacs it is very much necessary to refer the contents of Notification No 33/2012-ST dated 26.06.2012 which is very much relevant in the case with regard to availability of basic exemption which is referred to as under: "(vii) where a taxable service provides one or more taxable services from one or more premises, the exemption under this notification shall apply to the agaregate value of all such taxable services and premises, does not exceed ten lakh rupees in the preceding f....
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....ein it has been held that the question whether penalty is to be levied or not depends on the fact whether the non- payment of duty was on account of fraud, collusion or any willful misstatement or suppression of facts or contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or the rules made there under with intent to evade payment of duty. Thus, I hold that for this act, the party had rendered themselves liable to penal action under Section 78 of the Finance Act, 1994. Accordingly same is imposable upon them. 63. In the instant case, element of suppression of facts as well as deliberate evasion of Service Tax by the party have got proved as discussed in above paras. Therefore, I am of the view penalties under Section 77(1)(d) for not depositing Service Tax in due time as per Rule 6 of the Service Tax Rules 1994 and Section 68 of the Act is imposable upon the party. I also observed that the party even failed to keep, maintain or retain books of accounts and other documents as required in accordance with the provisions or the Rules made thereunder & contravened such provisions and liable to penalty under Section 77(b), failed to furnish true and correct information and documen....
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....red from the party a appropriate rates under the provisions of Section 75 of the finance Act 1994, on the amount of Service Tax being confirmed. Accordingly, I hold so." 4.3 We find that the basic issue for consideration in the present appeal is with regards to levy of service tax on the services of Tour Operator provided for Haj and Umrah. The issue with regards to levy of service tax in respect of these services for the period post introduction of Negative List concept for levy of service tax (i.e. from 01.07.2012) is no longer res-integra and has been decided by Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of All India Haj Umrah Tour Organizer Association Mumbai [2022 (63) GSTL 129 (SC)], wherein following has been held:- "CONSIDERATION OF SUBMISSIONS 33. The service tax was introduced by way of the Finance Act. The Finance Act incorporated various services which were made subject to payment of service tax. The services were enumerated in clause 105 of Section 65 of the Finance Act. 34. Service tax is an indirect tax which is leviable on the service provider who is the taxable person. The service tax is a tax on service rendered. It is not a direct tax on serv....
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.... force with effect from 1st July 2012. 36. In these petitions, we are concerned with HGOs or PTOs. It is, therefore, necessary to understand the nature of services provided by HGOs/ PTOs. Haj pilgrimage is a five-day religious pilgrimage to Mecca and nearby Holy places in Saudi Arabia. As per the Holy Quran, all Muslims who are physically and financially sound must perform the Haj pilgrimage at least once in their lives. As provided in Holy Quran, the Haj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars or duties of Islam. Haj takes place only once a year in the twelfth and final month of Islamic lunar calendar. Pilgrimage undertaken to Mecca at other times is known as Umrah. During the five days of Haj, the pilgrims are required to perform a series of rituals, the details of which are not relevant for deciding the issues involved in these petitions. 37. To enable Haj pilgrims of India to undertake Haj pilgrimage, there is a bilateral agreement executed every year between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Government of India. As per the bilateral agreement, a quota of number of pilgrims is assigned to India. Out of the said quota, normally only 30% is allocated to HGOs. Th....
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....e service provider. (i) "location of the service receiver" means:- (a). where the recipient of service has obtained a single registration, whether centralized or otherwise, the premises for which such registration has been obtained; (b). where the recipient of service is not covered under sub-clause (a): (i) the location of his business establishment; or (ii) where services are used at a place other than the business establishment, that is to say, a fixed establishment elsewhere, the location of such establishment; or (iii) where services are used at more than one establishment, whether business or fixed, the establishment most directly concerned with the use of the service; and (iv) in the absence of such places, the usual place of residence of the recipient of service. Explanation:- For the purposes of clauses (h) and (i), "usual place of residence" in case of a body corporate means the place where it is incorporated or otherwise legally constituted. Explanation 2:- For the purpose of clause (i), in the case of telecommunication service, the usual place of residence shall be the billing address. ....
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....fied services.-The place of provision of following services shall be the location of the service provider:- (a) Services provided by a banking company, or a financial institution, or a non-banking financial company, to account holders; (b)[x x x] (c) Intermediary services; (d) Service consisting of hiring of all means of transport other than, - (i) aircrafts, and (ii) vessels except yachts upto a period of one month." (emphasis added) We may note here the relevant provisions of IGST Act. Sub-Sections (14) and (15) of Section 2 are as under: "(14) location of the recipient of services means,-- (a) where a supply is received at a place of business for which the registration has been obtained, the location of such place of business; (b) where a supply is received at a place other than the place of business for which registration has been obtained (a fixed establishment elsewhere), the location of such fixed establishment; (c) where a supply is received at more than one establishment, whether the place of business or fixed establishment, the location of the establishment....
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....ion including services provided in relation to such function at such property; or (d) any services ancillary to the services referred to in clauses (a), (b) and (c), shall be the location at which the immovable property or boat or vessel, as the case may be, is located or intended to be located: Provided that if the location of the immovable property or boat or vessel is located or intended to be located outside India, the place of supply shall be the location of the recipient. Explanation.--Where the immovable property or boat or vessel is located in more than one State or Union territory, the supply of services shall be treated as made in each of the respective States or Union territories, in proportion to the value for services separately collected or determined in terms of the contract or agreement entered into in this regard or, in the absence of such contract or agreement, on such other basis as may be prescribed. (4) The place of supply of restaurant and catering services, personal grooming, fitness, beauty treatment, health service including cosmetic and plastic surgery shall be the location where the services are actually performed. ....
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....service to,- (a) a registered person, shall be the location of such person; (b) a person other than a registered person, shall be the place where the passenger embarks on the conveyance for a continuous journey: Provided that where the right to passage is given for future use and the point of embarkation is not known at the time of issue of right to passage, the place of supply of such service shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (2). Explanation.--For the purposes of this sub-section, the return journey shall be treated as a separate journey, even if the right to passage for onward and return journey is issued at the same time. (10) The place of supply of services on board a conveyance, including a vessel, an aircraft, a train or a motor vehicle, shall be the location of the first scheduled point of departure of that conveyance for the journey. (11) The place of supply of telecommunication services including data transfer, broadcasting, cable and direct to home television services to any person shall,- (a) in case of services by way of fixed telecommunication line, leased circuits, inter....
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.... the supplier of services: Provided that if the location of recipient of services is not on the records of the supplier, the place of supply shall be the location of the supplier of services. (13) The place of supply of insurance services shall,-- (a) to a registered person, be the location of such person; (b) to a person other than a registered person, be the location of the recipient of services on the records of the supplier of services. (14) The place of supply of advertisement services to the Central Government, a State Government, a statutory body or a local authority meant for the States or Union territories identified in the contract or agreement shall be taken as being in each of such States or Union territories and the value of such supplies specific to each State or Union territory shall be in proportion to the amount attributable to services provided by way of dissemination in the respective States or Union territories as may be determined in terms of the contract or agreement entered into in this regard or, in the absence of such contract or agreement, on such other basis as may be prescribed. Section 13. Place of s....
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....ervices supplied by way of admission to, or organisation of a cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational or entertainment event, or a celebration, conference, fair, exhibition or similar events, and of services ancillary to such admission or organisation, shall be the place where the event is actually held. (6) Where any services referred to in sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) is supplied at more than one location, including a location in the taxable territory, its place of supply shall be the location in the taxable territory. (7) Where the services referred to in sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) or sub-section (5) are supplied in more than one State or Union territory, the place of supply of such services shall be taken as being in each of the respective States or Union territories and the value of such supplies specific to each State or Union territory shall be in proportion to the value for services separately collected or determined in terms of the contract or agreement entered into in this regard or, in the absence of such contract or agreement, on such other basis as may be prescribed. (8) The place of supply of th....
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....to be located in the taxable territory, if any two of the following noncontradictory conditions are satisfied, namely:-- (a) the location of address presented by the recipient of services through internet is in the taxable territory; (b) the credit card or debit card or store value card or charge card or smart card or any other card by which the recipient of services settles payment has been issued in the taxable territory; (c) the billing address of the recipient of services is in the taxable territory; (d) the internet protocol address of the device used by the recipient of services is in the taxable territory; (e) the bank of the recipient of services in which the account used for payment is maintained is in the taxable territory; (f) the country code of the subscriber identity module card used by the recipient of services is of taxable territory; (g) the location of the fixed land line through which the service is received by the recipient is in the taxable territory. (13) In order to prevent double taxation or non-taxation of the supply of a service, or for the uniform application of rules, the Government ....
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....eceiver in accordance with clause (i) of Rule 2 which will be in taxable territory. 40. However, reliance was sought to be placed by the petitioners on Rule 4, in particular Clause (b) thereof. Rule 4 is applicable to performance based service which provides that the place of provision of two services set out in the said Rule shall be the location where services are actually performed. Clause (a) of Rule 4 is applicable to services provided in respect of goods which obviously will not apply in the present case. The petitioners are relying upon clause (b) of Rule 4. The title of Rule 4 suggests that it is applicable to performance based services. HGOs do not render performance based services looking to the nature of the services they render, which we have discussed above in detail. Therefore, Clause (b) of Rule 4 will not apply to HGOs. What will apply is Rule 3 which will mean that the place of provision of the service shall be the location of the recipient of service in accordance with Rule 2(i)(b)(iv). Thus, service is rendered by HGOs to the Haj pilgrims within taxable territory. That is how the charging section will apply. 41. There was an attempt made to argu....
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.... 1st July 2012. Therefore, the same will not apply to these cases. APPLICABILITY OF EXEMPTION NOTIFICATION 46. The question is whether the exemption granted under the Mega Exemption Notification will apply in this case. As mentioned earlier, the Exemption Notifications under the IGST and the GST Acts so far as the Haj pilgrimage is concerned, are pari materia with the Mega Exemption Notification. It is, therefore, necessary to advert to the Mega Exemption Notification. The Mega Exemption Notification contains a list of services which are exempted from service tax leviable under Section 66B. In this case, Clauses 5 and 5A are pressed into service by the petitioners which read thus: "5. Services by a person by way of- (a) renting of precincts of a religious place meant for general public, owned or managed by an entity registered as a charitable or religious trust under section 12AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961(hereinafter referred to as the Income-tax Act), or a trust or an institution registered under sub clause (v) of clause (23C) of section 10 of the Income-tax Act or a body or an authority covered under clause (23BBA) of section 10 of the Income....
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....ew as in Sun Export case [Sun Export Corpn. v. Collector of Customs, (1997) 6 SCC 564] stand overruled." (Emphasis added) 49. But Shri Datar urged that when the exemption is for beneficial purposes, a different rule will apply. In the case of Government of Kerala & Anr. v. Mother Superior Adoration Convent^2 relied upon by Shri Datar, this Court referred to its decision in the case of Commissioner of Customs (Preventive) Mumbai v. M. Ambalal and Company 2011 (2) SCC 74 and held that the law laid down in the case of M. Ambalal and Company 2011 (2) SCC 74 has not been disturbed by the Constitution Bench in the case of Dilip Kumar and Company^20. In paragraph 23, this Court in the case of Mother Superior Adoration Convent^2 held thus: "23. Likewise, even under the Customs Act, this Court in Commr. of Customs v. M. Ambalal & Co. [Commr. of Customs v. M. Ambalal & Co., (2011) 2 SCC 74] made a clear distinction between exemptions which are to be strictly interpreted as opposed to beneficial exemptions having as their purpose-encouragement or promotion of certain activities. This case felicitously put the law thus follows : (SCC p. 80, para 16) ....
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....ine of authority being applicable to the facts of these cases being the line of authority which deals with beneficial exemptions as opposed to exemptions generally in tax statutes. This being the case, a literal formalistic interpretation of the statute at hand is to be eschewed. We must first ask ourselves what is the object sought to be achieved by the provision, and construe the statute in accord with such object. And on the assumption that if any ambiguity arises in such construction, such ambiguity must be in favour of that which is exempted. Consequently, for the reasons given by us, we agree with the conclusions reached by the impugned judgments [Mother Superior v. State of Kerala, 2007 SCC OnLine Ker 578] , [Unity Hospital (P) Ltd. v. State of Kerala, 2010 SCC OnLine Ker 4679] of the Division Bench and the Full Bench." (Emphasis added) 50. The submission of the petitioners is that clause (5) of the Mega Exemption Notification contains a beneficial exemption and therefore, the same will have to be construed in accordance with the object sought to be achieved. The submission is that as there is an ambiguity in the construction of Clause 5, the construction i....
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....y of conducting a religious ceremony. The service rendered by HGOs to Haj pilgrims is to facilitate them to reach at the destination to perform rituals/religious ceremonies. No religious ceremony is performed or conducted by the HGOs. The religious ceremony is conducted by Haj pilgrims or by someone else in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to us, there is absolutely no ambiguity in sub-clause (b) of clause 5 and therefore, there is no occasion to apply the test laid down by this Court in the case of Mother Superior Adoration Convent^2. 53. The submission of Shri Datar, learned senior counsel was that in Haj pilgrimage there are six entities involved which include concerned Ministry of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Government of India, Tawafa establishments, Molliums, approved HGOs and Haj pilgrims. His submission is that the word 'person' used in sub-clause (b) of clause 5 of the exemption notification will also include the plural of the term 'person'. The submission is that a Haj pilgrim will fall in the category of 'person'. According to us, this submission is completely fallacious. The word 'person' used in Clause 5 refers to a service provider and not to the r....
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....mption under sub-clause (b) of clause 5 is to the service provider. We are noting this as one of the petitions has been filed by a service recipient. 55. Before we go to the argument regarding discrimination, we may note here that with effect from 1st July 2017, service tax became payable under the IGST Act. Even GST Act came into force from the same date. Under both the enactments, tax is payable on the supply of goods or services. Sub-Section (2) of Section 13 of IGST Act provides that the place of supply of services except services specified in Sub-Sections (3) to (13) shall be the location of the recipient of services. Under sub-Section (1) of Section 5 of the IGST Act, service tax is payable on services supplied inter-state. Under sub-Section (1) of Section 9 of the GST Act, service tax is leviable on services supplied intra-state. None of the sub-sections (3) to (13) of Section 13 of the IGST Act is applicable in this case. Clause (14) of Section 2 of the IGST Act defines the location of the recipient of service. This provision is pari materia with the same definition under the 2012 Rules. As in case of 2012 Rules, there are four categories. The service received from....
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....s of persons, the classification made by treating the Haj Committee as a separate class, cannot be questioned. In a given case, different classes of service providers may be rendering the same service to the same class of service recipients. That, per se, does not amount to discrimination. The attack on the ground of discrimination will have to be considered in the context of taxable persons namely, the Haj Committee and HGOs. Under Section 3 of the said Act of 2002, the Haj Committee of India was constituted. Similarly, under Section 17, the State Haj Committees were constituted. Both the categories of Haj Committees are body corporate, having perpetual succession and a common seal with the power to acquire, hold and dispose of movable and immovable properties. Section 4 determines the composition of the Haj Committee of India and Section 18 determines the composition of State Haj Committees. Section 9 lays down the duties of the Haj Committee, which reads thus: "9.Duties of Committee-(1) The duties of the Committee shall be- (i) to collect and disseminate information useful to pilgrims, and to arrange orientation and training programmes for pilgrims; (i....
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..... It is its duty to generally look after the welfare of the pilgrims. The Haj Committee has an important duty to assist the pilgrims in distress. One of the duties is to finalize the Annual Haj Plan with the approval of the Central Government and to execute the same. The Haj Committee is under an obligation to publish proceedings of the Committee. Under Section 30, it is the duty of the Committee to create Central Haj Fund. Similarly, under Section 32, the State Committees are under an obligation to create State Haj Funds. The Central Government has the power to reconstitute the Haj Committee and to remove the Chairperson, the Vice-Chairperson and the Members of the Committee. There is a similar power vesting in the State Government in respect of the State Committees. Thus, the Haj Committees are statutory bodies working under the control and supervision of the Government. The Haj Committees are the agencies and instrumentalities of the State. Apart from arranging visits of Haj pilgrims for the purposes of Haj pilgrimage, there are important statutory duties assigned to the Haj Committee which we have set out above. As per clause (b) of Section 30, money collected from pilgrims for....
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....ary object and purpose of the exercise cannot be lost sight of. The object of registering PTOs is not to distribute the Haj seats to them for making business profits but to ensure that the pilgrim may be able to perform his religious duty without undergoing any difficulty, harassment or suffering. A reasonable profit to the PTO is only incidental to the main object." (Emphasis added) However, the learned counsel has not referred to paragraph 10 of the same judgment, which takes a note of very substantial profits earned by the PTOs. Paragraph 10 reads thus: "10. From these facts, it is not difficult to deduce that the dispute between the private operators/travel agents and the Government of India in regard to registration as PTOs arises from a conflict of object and purpose. For most of the private operators/travel agents registration as PTOs is mainly a question of more profitable business. Under the bilateral agreement no PTO can be given a quota of less than fifty pilgrims. Normally, a quota of fifty pilgrims would mean, on an average and by conservative standards, a profit of rupees thirty-five to fifty lakhs. This in turn means that any private operat....
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....dered by the specified organisations to the devotees is not with the object of making profit. Therefore, there is a nexus between the classification made and the object sought to be achieved by granting exemptions. 61. The learned senior counsel relied upon the decision of this Court in the case of S. K. Dutta^6. Certain provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961 granting exemption to the members of the Scheduled Tribes were the subject matter of challenge before the High Court. While granting exemption to the members of the Scheduled Tribes, the class of the government servants who were the members of Scheduled Tribes was excluded from the benefits. It is in this context that the Apex Court observed that the classification made on the basis of imaginary distinction cannot be a valid classification. There has to be a reasonable and substantial distinction for the purposes of making a valid classification. On facts, the said decision will not help the petitioners. 62. In the meeting of the Fitment Committee, there were deliberations on the representation made by the petitioners. The decision/recommendation of the Fitment Committee contains valid reasons for making a di....
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....as under - "The clarification must not be arbitrary but must be rational, that is to say, it must not only be based on some qualities or characteristics which are to be found in all the person grouped together and not in others who are left out but those qualities or characteristics must have a reasonable relation to the object of the legislation. In order to pass the test, two conditions must be fulfilled, namely, (1) that the classification must be founded on an intelligible differentia, which distinguishes those that are grouped together from others, and (2) that differentia must have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the Act." The classification of pilgrims undertaking Haj/Umrah pilgrimage tours through Haj Committee of India under bilateral arrangement and those undertaking tours through private tour operators is based on an intelligible differentia having a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the statute in question. Therefore, services Tax/GST exemption on services provided by a specified organization in respect of a religious pilgrimage facilitated by Government of India under bilateral arrangement are not disc....
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.... their rising in the future. The need to protect the domestic market is always present, and therefore encouragement had to be given to the imports effected by the State Trading Corporation by reducing the rate of customs duty levied on them. This involved a long term perspective, since the exclusive monopoly to import these edible oils was now entrusted to the State Trading Corporation. What appears to have dominated the policy of the government in issuing the exemption notifications was the consideration that the domestic prices of vanaspati should be maintained at reasonable levels. It cannot be doubted that the entire edible oil market is an integrated one, and that it is not reasonable to treat any one of the edible oils or vanaspati in isolation. It is a well accepted fact that vanaspati manufacturers constitute a powerful organised sector in the edible oil market, and a high vanaspati price would encourage an unauthorised diversion of the edible oils to vanaspati manufacturing units, resulting in a scarcity in the edible oil market, giving rise to erratic prices and depriving consumers of access to edible oils. The need for preventing vanaspati prices ruling high was also to ....
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....nt any conclusion in their favour." (Emphasis added) 64. We are tempted to quote what the majority view in the case of R. K. Garg v. Union of India & Ors. 1981 (4) SCC 675 on the approach of the Court in such matters. We quote paragraph 8: "8. Another rule of equal importance is that laws relating to economic activities should be viewed with greater latitude than laws touching civil rights such as freedom of speech, religion etc. It has been said by no less a person than Holmes, J., that the legislature should be allowed some play in the joints, because it has to deal with complex problems which do not admit of solution through any doctrinaire or strait-jacket formula and this is particularly true in case of legislation dealing with economic matters, where, having regard to the nature of the problems required to be dealt with, greater play in the joints has to be allowed to the legislature. The court should feel more inclined to give judicial deference to legislative judgment in the field of economic regulation than in other areas where fundamental human rights are involved. Nowhere has this admonition been more felicitously expressed than in Morey v. Dou....