TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1990 (3) TMI 67
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....as "the Town Areas Act", which read as under : "No. 690/XI-158-T. It is hereby notified that the Governor acting with his Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by section 38(1) of the United Provinces Town Areas Act, 1914 (11 of 1914), is pleased to extend the provisions of section 298(2)F(d) of the United Provinces Municipalities Act, 1916, to the Town Area of Chirgaon in the Jhansi District in the modified form set forth below : Modified section of the United Provinces Municipalities Act, 1916 (11 of 1916), section 298(2) F(d) The panchayat may make bye-laws for the establishment, regulation and inspection of the market and for the proper and cleanly conduct of business therein." Later, by section 4 of the United Provinces Town Area (Amendment) Act, 1934 (U. P. Act 11 of 1934), the word "panchayat", wherever it occurred in the principal Act was substituted by the word "Committee". It may be noted that the Town Area Panchayat was superseded for period of one year with effect from October 20, 1933, to October 19, 1934, and was revived thereafter. The District Magistrate, Jhansi, promulgated a set of bye-laws dated November 18, 1934, for the establishment, regulation a....
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....o ; that there was double taxation ; and in the alternative, that the weighing dues amounted to neither a fee nor a tax but an illegal extraction without the authority of law. All the arguments were rejected by the High Court. Before us Mr. R. K. Maheshwari, learned counsel for the appellant, submits, inter alia, that the bye-laws were invalid at the time when those were framed and could not have been validated by mere adoption by the TAC in 1935 ; that the weighing dues Were merely in the nature of purchase tax and were illegal Inasmuch as the TAC had no right or authority to levy the same when it had already been imposed by the State of Uttar Pradesh under section 128(1)(xiv) of the U. P. Municipalities Act ; that the TAC did not render any special service to the arhatias or farmers who came to the town to conduct their business, nor did it incur any expenditure in this regard ; that the charging of weighing dues was discriminatory inasmuch as there were no weighing charges on some articles imported from Jhansi or Moth Tehsil by rail and on rice, salt, jaggery or sugar brought either by road or by rail ; that goods coming from villages situate between Chirgaon and Jhansi were no....
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....a municipality could do under that provision, namely, section 298(2)F(d). Section 298 was included in Chapter IX of the Municipalities Act and it dealt with rules, regulations and bye-laws. There could, therefore, be no doubt that the TAC was empowered to make bye-laws "for the establishment, regulation and inspection of market and for the proper and cleanly conduct of business therein." The bye-laws dated November 18, 1934, were promulgated by the District Magistrate. The contention that the District Magistrate had no power to promulgate the bye-laws was rightly rejected by the learned courts below holding that the District Magistrate was at that time functioning as TAC as it then remained suspended and those were ratified on January 9, 1935) by the TAC after it was revived. Section 298(2)F(d), as modified in the notification, did not ex facie authorise the imposition of any tax. The Municipalities Act, Chapter V (sections 128 to 165), dealt with municipal taxation, imposition and alteration of taxes. Chapter VII of that Act which included section 298(2)F(d) did not deal with taxation. Section 298(2)F(d) dealt with markets slaughter houses, sale of food, etc. Clause (d) thereund....
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....uisite power to levy this tax. In Other words, the weighing dues were construed as entry tax and sale or purchase of goods tax combined. The High Court also held that the defect, it any, in this regard was cured by section 13 of the U. P. Town Areas (Amendment) Act, 1962, as section 13 of that Act provided: "Notwithstanding anything contained in the principal Act, (1) Where any tax of the nature described in clause (g) of subsection (1) of section 14 of the principal Act and by whatever name or description called has been imposed, levied or assessed by any Town Area Committee prior to the commencement of this Act, the same shall be and is hereby declared to be good and valid in law as if this Act had been in force on all material dates and the tax had been imposed, levied and assessed under and in accordance with the appropriate provision in that behalf. (emphasis supplied by us) The High Court concluded, and we think rightly, that the imposition of, this tax (weighing dues) had been validated retrospectively as if the Amending Act had been in force even in 1934 when the bye-laws were framed. The validity of the provision having not been challenged, it cannot be held that the im....
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....r the benefit of the payer, while a tax is payable for the common benefits conferred by the authority on all taxpayers. A fee is a payment made for some special benefit enjoyed by the payer and the payment is proportional to such benefit. Money raised by fee is appropriated for the performance of the service and does not merge in the general revenue. Where, however, the service is indistinguishable from the public services and forms, part of the latter, it is necessary to inquire what is the primary object of the levy and the essential purpose which it is intended to achieve. While there is no quid pro quo between a taxpayer and the authority in the case of a tax, there is a necessary co-relation between the fee collected and the service intended to be rendered. Of course, the quid pro quo need not be understood in mathematical equivalence but only in a fair correspondence between the two. A broad co-relationship is all that is necessary. Where it appears that, under the guise of levying a fee, the authority is attempting to impose a tax, the court has to scrutinise the scheme to find out whether there is a real co-relation between the services and the levy, whether it is so co-ex....
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....t-matter, (2) by the same Government or authority, (3) during the same taxing period, and (4) for the same purpose. "There is no double taxation, strictly speaking" says Cooley, "where (a) the taxes are imposed by different States, (b) one of the impositions is not a tax, (c) one tax is against property and the other is not a property tax, or (d) the double taxation is indirect rather than direct." In the instant case, there cannot be said to be double taxation as there is no such taxation imposed by the TAC for the same period, on the same goods, at the same time, and for the same purpose. Where more than one legislative authority, such as the State-Legislature and a local or municipal body, possess the power to levy a tax, there is nothing in the Constitution to prevent the same person or property being subject to both the State and municipal taxation or the same legislature exercising its power twice for different purposes. In Avinder Singh v. State of Punjab [1979] 1 SCR 845, the State of Punjab, in April, 1977, required the various municipal bodies in the State to impose tax on the sale of Indian made foreign liquor at Re. 1 per bottle with effect from May 29, 1977. The muni....