ARAVIND RAMAKANT MODAWDEKAR Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) When the Original Petitions were filed the initial target was the steep rise in the tax amount imposed by the Government on "contract carriages". But eventually petitioners restricted the scope of their challenge to the two tier tax rates fixed on contract carriages - one for those operating service entirely within the State of Kerala and the other for those conducting service both within and outside the State. The former class of contract carriages is described as "intra-State service" for convenience and the latter class as "inter-State service". The same expressions can appropriately be used by us also in this judgment. Tax in respect of intra-State service is Rs. 500/- per quarter per seat while for the other it is just double of it. This differentiation is attacked as violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.

(2.) Learned single Judge dismissed all the Original Petitions on the ground that the said classification has an intelligible basis and that there is a nexus between the differentia and the object of the taxation. In other words, learned single Judge upheld the validity of the two tier tax measure imposed on contract carriages. Owners of contract carriages who filed the Original Petitions have filed these appeals in challenge of the said judgment.

(3.) Learned counsel for the appellants contended that even if the classification made between intra-State and inter-State service has any perceptible differentia it has no rational nexus with the object of taxation. Learned Additional Advocate General (for Taxes) defended the two tier taxation measure on the premise that Government has the power to reduce the tax in respect of any class of persons and that such reduction for intra-State contract carriage operators is intended to reduce the hardship of that class. Hence he contended that the measure is well within the scope of Article 14 of the Constitution.