STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH Vs. RAJA SYED MOHAMMAD SAADAT ALI KHAN IN C A NO 306 OF 57 :RAJA BIRENDRA BIKRAM SINGH IN C A NO 307 OF 57 :HIS HIGHNESS MAHARAJA SUKHJIT SINGH IN C A NO 308 OF 57

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Civil Appeal No. 306 of 1957:Raja Syed Mohammad Saadat Ali Khan who will hereinafter be referred to as "the assessee", is the owner of Taluqa Nanpura in district Bahraich and Taluqa Mohammadi in district Kheri, in the State of Uttar Pradesh. The legislature of the United Provinces enacted the United Provinces Agricultural Income- Tax Act, III of 1949, authorising imposition of a tax on agricultural income within the State. By S. 3 of the Act, the liability to pay agricultural income-tax and super-tax at rates specified in the schedule therein was charged on the total agricultural income of the previous year of every person. By S. 14, the Collector and the Assistant Collector were for the purposes of the Act declared to be the assessing authorities within their respective revenue jurisdictions. As originally enacted, by S. 2 (4), the expression "Collector" was to have the same meaning as in the United Provinces Land Revenue Act, 1901. By S. 44, the Provincial Government was empowered to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the Act, and in particular, amongst others.

(2.) The State Government of Uttar Pradesh (the former United Provinces) by Notification dated June 8, 1953, appointed one K. C. Chaudhry under sub-s. 1 of S. 14(A) of the U. P. Land Revenue Act III of 1901 to be the Additional Collector in district Bahraich and authorised him to exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of a Collector "in all classes of cases." Claiming to exercise the authority of the Collector under S. 14 of Act III of 1949, the Additional Collector by order dated February 25, 1954, assessed the assessee's net agricultural income at Rs. 2,81,110-10-3 and ordered him to pay Rs. 1,36,390-2-0 as agricultural income-tax and super-tax.

(3.) The validity of this order was challenged by the assessee by an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution presented before the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad. The contention of the assessee that the Additional Collector of Bahriach was not an authority competent by law to assess the agricultural income-tax under Act III of 1949 was upheld by the High Court. The High Court issued a writ of certiorari quashing the order of the Additional Collector, because in its opinion, where property of an assessee is situated in several districts, the Collector as the assessing authority under Act III of 1949 exercises "extra-territorial" jurisdiction, but as K. C. Chaudhry, the Additional Collector was not invested with that extra-territorial jurisdiction, the impugned proceeding assessing agricultural income-tax was unauthorised. The State of Uttar Pradesh obtained from the High Court leave to appeal to this Court against the order quashing the assessment.