SAITHU KANI SHAHUL HAMEED Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE meat vendors within the Changanacherry Municipality "One,in O.P.1529,and eleven in O.P.1754 of 1973 &mdash ;,challenge the levy of Rs.2 per cattle and Re.1 per sheep,slaughtered in the Municipal Slaughterhouse,provided and maintained by the Munici­pality.The right of collecting this amount for the year,was farmed out by the Municipality at an auction,and bid by the 3rd respondent for a sum of Rs.12,010.00.

(2.) THE levy has been imposed under section 289 of the Kerala Municipalities Act which reads:

(3.) IT is well -settled since the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in the Liberty Cinema's case, A.I.R.1965 S.C.1107 that the levy must be justified by the conferment of ˜special benefit ' ;,on the payer of the licence fee.In the wake of the Supreme Court's pronouncement,several Full Bench decisions of this Court have followed. Kesavan Vaidyar's case, 1970 K.L.T.831 and the Vaniamkulam Panchayat's case, 1971 K.L.T.264 were two such decisions,heard together by the same Full Bench,in which judg­ments were delivered the same day,sustaining the levy as fee in the one case,and quashing it as not supported by quid pro quo,in the other.The recent decision of a Division Bench of ours in Jeevaraja v. Badagara Municipality , 1973 K.L.T.845 followed the principles of these rulings and quashed the levy as unsustainable.The question in this case is:on which side of the line does the case fall?