KUNWAR RAM NATH Vs. MUNICIPAL BOARD PILIBHIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave arises out of a complaint instituted under Section 155 of the U. P. Municipalities Act, 1916 (Act No. II of 1916) (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act') by the Municipal Board of Pilibhit in the Court of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Puranpur, District Pilibhit against the Managing Director, the General Manager and the Cane Manager of L. H. Sugar Factory, Pilibhit and one Bishan Swaroop, an employee of the said Sugar Factory, the appellants herein, alleging that they had brought by railway on November 30, 1967 into their godown at the railway siding situated within their Sugar Factory which was within the limits of the Pilibhit Municipal Board for purposes of consumption or use three wagon loads of sugarcane weighing in all 804 maunds for which octroi of Rs. 8.48 p. was payable under the bye-laws of the Municipal Board published under notification dated May 18, 1960 without paying the said octroi. The said complaint was filed on September 12, 1968. During the proceedings, before the Magistrate the appellants pleaded that since the payment of octroi by the factory of the appellants on sugarcane brought by railway had been exempted by an order of the Government of the United Provinces bearing G. O. No. 3613 (1) XI-395 dated November 20, 1936, the prosecution should fail. The relevant part of the Government order which is contained in a letter addressed by the Municipal Department of the Government of the United Provinces to the Commissioners of Rohilkhand Division reads thus:

(2.) After the above plea was raised, the complainant Municipal Board went on seeking adjournments in the criminal case and the case remained undisposed of for nearly four years. So the appellants filed a petition under Section 561-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act No. V of 1898) before the High Court of Allahabad in Criminal Misc. Case. No. 3291 of 1972 in Sept., 1972 requesting the High Court to quash the proceedings on the ground, that they were vexatious. In the High Court the appellants admitted that they had brought into the municipal area of Pilibhit sugarcane by railway as pleaded by the Municipal Board without paying octroi but submitted that octroi was not payable in view of the exemption granted by the State Government under Section 157 (3) of the Act. The High Court rejected the plea of the appellants and dismissed the petition filed by them on the ground that the case was governed by certain earlier judgments of the High Court and that the exemption was no longer available as the octroi claimed was a new levy not covered by it. Although there was some dispute about the existence of the Government order granting the exemption, the High Court held that such an order had been passed by the Provincial Government but it was of no avail to the appellants. Accordingly the High Court dismissed the petition filed by the appellants. Against the judgment of the High Court, this appeal has been filed.

(3.) At the outset it should be stated that until the complaint was filed in the year 1958 the Municipal Board had not collected any octroi from the factory in question on sugarcane brought by railway. We are also informed that by an order communicated to all the Divisional Commissioners and the District Magistrate of the State of Uttar Pradesh on June 3, 1982, the levy of octroi on sugarcane brought by sugar factories into the municipalities in the State of Uttar Pradesh for crushing purposes is generally exempted irrespective of the mode of transport used to bring such sugarcane. The relevant part of that communication reads thus: