PANALAL BALABHAI ZAVERI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Special Civil Application raises an interesting question regarding the interpretation of S. 13 of the Bombay Motor Vehicles Tax Act 1958 (hereinafter referred to as the Act). The petitioner herein is the owner of a tractor and a trailer; the tractor bears registration No. G J A 4240 and the trailer bears registration No. G T A 9788. It is the contention of the petitioner that the tractor and the trailer are designed and were used solely for agricultural operations on the farm and farm-land and he contends that as such they are exempt from the payment of any tax under the provisions of the Act. It is further the case of the petitioner that he had applied for and was granted exemption for a further period of one year along with the registration books but he did not receive any reply from the R. T. O. No decision of the R. T. O. was communicated to him nor was he informed that his application for exemption was refuse do Under the belief that the period of exemption must have been extended as usual the petitioner went on using these two motor vehicles but on or about August 21 1964 he received an order from the R. T. O. dated August 18 1964 directing the appellant to pay tax and penalty in respect of these two vehicles for the period April 1 1962 to September 30 1964 and the total amount according to that demand notice came to Rs. 8937.00. Against this order or demand notice from the R. T. O. the petitioner preferred an appeal to the State Transport Officer. By the Order dated December 9 1964 the State Transport Officer rejected the contention of the petitioner that the two vehicles were totally exempt from tax under the Act but he remanded the matter to the Regional Transport Officer for consideration of the question whether during the relevant period the vehicles had been used solely for agricultural operations. The Regional Transport Officer was directed that in the event of the petitioner producing the necessary proof the two vehicles were to be taxed on the footing of motor vehicles used for agricultural operations and on that basis the amount of tax and the penalty if any was to be assessed and taxed and a new demand notice on that footing was directed to be Issued. After the remand the necessary proof was produced by the petitioner before the Regional Transport Officer and ultimately by the Order dated March 24 1965 the petitioner was informed that he was liable to pay 50% of the annual rate prescribed under the Act and on that footing from April 1 1962 to March 31 1963 and thereafter from April 1 1963 to March 31 1964 the petitioner was required to pay the aggregate amount of Rs. 2883.00. The present petition has therefore been filed challenging the order Annexure B to the petition being the order passed by the appellate authority namely the State Transport Officer; and also the order passed after remand on March 24 1965

(2.) Sec. 13 of the Act under which exemption has been claimed by the petitioner is in these terms:-

(3.) In Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes 12 Ed. (1969) at page 232 it has been pointed out:-