TADAO BAHUJI Vs. MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE KHANDWA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by certificate under Arts. 132(1) ad 133(1)(c) of the Constitution, has been filed against an order of the High Court at Nagpur dated June 30, 1955.

(2.) Though the facts necessary to decide the appeal lie within a comparatively narrow compass, the case itself has had a long and somewhat unique history. In July, 1922, the Municipal Committee, Khandwa, resolved to impose a tax on the trade of ginning and pressing cotton by means of steam or mechanical process, and after sundry procedure, a notification was published on November 25, 1922, in the Central Provinces and Berar Gazette, imposing the tax. Certain traders including the appellant affected by the tax, filed suits seeking injunction against the Municipal Committee on the ground that the tax was invalid and illegal. Meanwhile, the Municipal Committee had served notices on the present appellant, and demanded and recovered the tax for 1923-24. The appellant then filed a second suit for refund of the tax paid by her on the ground that the imposition of the tax was illegal and ultra vires. The suits had varying fortunes in the Courts in India, till they reached the Privy Council. The Judicial Committee by its first decision remitted the cases for additional evidence while the appeals were kept pending. The decision of the Judicial Committee is reported in Radhakishan Jaikishan vs. Khandwa Municipal Committee, 61 Ind App 125. After the additional evidence was received, the Judicial Committee pronounced its decision, which is reported in Radhakishan Jaikishan vs. Municipal Committee, Khandwa, 64 Ind App 118. The Judicial Committee held that the tax was not validly imposed by the Municipal Committee, and reversing the decree of the Judicial Commissioner, decreed the suits.

(3.) The Provincial Legislature then passed the Khandwa Ginning and Pressing Cotton Tax Validating Act 8 of 1938, validating the tax. The Act contained only one operative section, which read as follows: