MUNICIPAL COUNCIL PANDHURNA Vs. R P DUBE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) BY this application under Articles 226 and 227 of the Constitution the petitioner, municipal Council, Pandhurna, seeks a writ of certiorari for quashing an order passed in appeal by the sub-divisional Officer, Sausar setting aside a notice issued by the Municipal Council to the respondent No. 2 Abdul Rashid Khan asking the said respondent to pay double octroi duty in respect of a motor bus belonging to him.

(2.) THIS petition first came up for hearing before a Division Bench. At the time of the hearing of the petition before the Division Bench, one of the points raised on behalf of the respondent Abdul Rashid Khan was that the Municipal Council hati no power to impose octroi tax on motor vehicles inasmuch as motor vehicles did not fall within the meaning of the word "motors" as used in item No. 87 (Class VIII) of the Schedule to the Rules framed by the Municipal Council for imposition of octroi tax. The Division Bench made this reference to a larger Bench as in its opinion the decisions in Municipal Committee, Malkapur v. Govind, 1955 Nag LJ 323 and S. R. Saharia v. Municipal Committee, Jabalpur, 1957 MPLJ 809 differed about the meaning of the word "motor" as used in Octroi Imposition Rules framed by the municipal Committee, Malkapur and the Municipal Committee, Jabalpur, and these rules were similar to the rules framed by the petitioner Municipal Council.

(3.) THE material facts are that the respondent purchased a bus for the purpose of plying a stage carriage service from Mohgaon to Teegaon via Sausar and pandhurna under a permit issued by the Regional Transport Authority, Jabalpur. The bus was first brought to Chhindwara and it was at Chhindwara that it was tested and passed before it was put on road. The petitioner Municipal Council made a demand for payment of octroi duty on the ground that as the bus halts at pandhurna and takes up and leaves passengers at that place, it was brought within the municipal limits of the Pandhurna Municipal Council for consumption and use. The Municipal Council rejected the contention of the respondent Abdul Rashid khan that as the bus only passed through Pandhurna while plying from Mohgaon to Teegaon, it could not be said to have been brought within the municipal limits of the Pandhurna Municipal Council for use and consumption and, therefore, the council was not entitled to demand any octroi tax in respect of the bus. This contention was, however, accepted in appeal which Abdul Rashid Khan preferred before the Sub-Divisional Officer.