TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2023 (9) TMI 1746
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....bh Shukla, Adv. For the Respondent : Mr. S.N. Bhat, Sr. Adv. Ms. Anuradha Mutatkar, AOR Mr. Tarun Kumar Thakur, Adv. Mr. Saurabh Mishra, A.A.G. Mr. Sunny Choudhary, AOR Mr. Vikas Bansal, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Shivang Rawat, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kaushik, AOR Mr. S.N. Bhat, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kandari, Adv. Mr. Vikrant Singh Bais, AOR For the Intervenor : Mr. M. P. Devanath, AOR Mr. Abhishek Anand, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar, Adv. ORDER 1 This batch of appeals arises from a judgment dated 21 July 2010 by a Division Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in a set of petitions under Article 226 of the Constitution. 2 Section 132 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act 1956 provides for "taxes to be imposed under t....
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....evied the terminal tax. The High Court held that the power of imposing tax was granted by a State statute which was enacted with due legislative competence. It was observed that no exceptions have been notified to the powers of the Municipal Council under any provision of the Constitution. The judgment has been carried in appeal. 4 Article 244 of the Constitution provides that the provisions of the Fifth Schedule shall apply to the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes. A notification was issued on 29 February 2003 by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, in exercise of the powers conferred by Paragraph 6(2) of the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution of India, by which the Scheduled Areas (States of Chhattisg....
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....inal tax was ultra vires. 7 The second submission which has been urged by the Additional Solicitor General is that Entry 89 of List I of the Seventh Schedule empowers Parliament to levy terminal taxes on goods or passengers carried by railway, sea or air; and taxes on railway fares and freights. Entry 56 of List II empowers the State Legislature to levy taxes on goods and passengers carried by road or on inland waterways. Entry 52 of List II, as it stood at the material time, provided for taxes on the entry of goods into a local area for consumption, use or sale therein. The submission is that while the expression 'terminal' used in Entry 89 of List I, Entry 56 of List II does not use that expression and hence the Rules in the present ca....
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.... Paragraph 5 of the Fifth Schedule is in the following terms : "5. Law applicable to Scheduled Areas.-(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the Governor may by public notification direct that any particular Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of the State shall not apply to a Scheduled Area or any part thereof in the State or shall apply to a Scheduled Area or any part thereof in the State subject to such exceptions and modifications as he may specify in the notification and any direction given under this subparagraph may be given so as to have retrospective effect. (2) The Governor may make regulations for the peace and good government of any area in a State which is for the time being a Scheduled Area. ....
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....any part in the State subject to such exceptions and modifications as he may specify in the notification. 13 The High Court in the present case has observed that the appellant did not produce any notification indicating that the statutes in question would not apply to the Scheduled Areas in the State of Madhya Pradesh or that their provisions would apply with exceptions and modifications disabling the power of the municipality to levy a tax. Even before this Court, no such notification has been produced. The consequence of paragraph 5(1) of the Fifth Schedule is that it enables the Governor to direct either that a parliamentary or state law shall not apply to a Scheduled Area in the State or that it would apply subject to exceptions and ....
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....m, as may be specified in the law." 16 The impact of Article 243-ZC is that Part IXA has no application to a Scheduled Area. The inapplicability of article 243X did not denude the state legislature to enact legislation for the State. A Scheduled Area governed by Article 244 of the Constitution is subject to the provisions contained in the Fifth Schedule which govern the administration and control of Scheduled Areas or Scheduled Tribes. Paragraph 5 confers a power on the Governor, as noted above, to direct either that parliamentary or state law shall not apply in the Schedule Area or that it would apply subject to such exceptions or modifications as may be specified. As the High Court noted, no such notification has been produced and none....