V NAGAPPA Vs. IRON ORE MINES CESS COMMISSIONER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant, who was operating an iron mine within the State of Mysore on the basis of a lease granted by the State, filed a writ petition before the High Court of Mysore challenging the validity of the provisions of the Iron Ore Mines Labour Welfare Cess Act (Central Act 58 of 1961). hereinafter referred to as "the Act". The contentions of the appellant in the writ petition were that the Act is violative of Art 14 of the Constitution in that it imposes a flat rate of excise duty on iron ore without reference to the actual content of iron in the ore and that there was excessive delegation of legislative power in that the power to fix the rate of excise duty was delegated to the government. The prayer in the petition was for a declaration of the invalidity of the Act with the consequential relief of quashing the demand made in pursuance to the Act. That petition was heard along with other similar petitions. The High Court dismissed the writ petitions by a common order and this appeal, by special leave, is against the order in so far as it affects the appellant.

(2.) The Act provides for the levy and collection of a cess on iron ore for financing the promotion of welfare of labour employed in the iron ore mining industry. So far as the Mysore State was concerned, the Act was brought into force from October 1, 1963. Sections 2 and 3 of the Act contain the crucial provisions thereof. As the arguments in this case centred round the said provisions, it is necessary to set them out:

(3.) Pursuant. to the power conferred by Section 8, rules called the Iron Ore Mines Labour Welfare Cess Rules, 1963, were framed and published by a notification dated September 20, 1963.