MANMULL JAIN Vs. N C PUTATUNDA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution for an appropriate writ directing the respondent to forbear from giving effect to a notice of demand dated 8-5-1952 and a summons dated 13-5-1952 issued by the respondent calling upon the petitioner to pay a certain sum by way of petrol duty, and also to forbear from giving effect to a resolution dated 19-12-1951 and an order dated 4-4-1952 under which the said petrol duty has been purported to have been imposed upon the petitioner.

(2.) The case of the petitioner is that he carries on a business amongst other places in the city of Chandernagore as Agent of Burmah-Shell Oil Storage & Distributing Co. of India Ltd. under the name and style of Hind Trading Co. and as such runs a Petrol Pump at Burra Bazar, Grand Trunk Road in the City of Chandernagore. The said Petrol Pump yields a daily average cash sale of about Rs. 500/-. By a decree of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Prance, Chandernagore was declared a free city. In July 1949 there was a referendum in Chandernagore relating to the question of transfer of the City of Chandernagore to the Indian Union. By a provisional Franco-Indian treaty signed in Paris in the beginning of 1950 (and subsequently ratified) the territory of the City of Chandernagore was ceded to India subject to ratification by the Republic of France. In May 1950 the said city of Chandernagore was de facto transferred to the Indian Union by the President of the Council of Ministers, France, pending ratification of the said Treaty. By a notification dated 1-5-1950, the Government of the Indian Union in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 4, Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act 1947 (47 of 1947) promulgated an Order called the Chandernagore (Application of Laws) Order 1950 and it was made operative from 2-5-1950. The said Order provided that certain enactments of the Indian Legislature which are mentioned in a schedule appended to the said Order would come into force in Chandernagore and the corresponding French Laws would cease to be operative in the said city. On or about 1-5-1950 the Government of India also appointed an Administrator and certain other officers to carry on the administration of the said city. The respondent was appointed Treasury Officer of Chandernagore with effect from 2-5-1950 and subsequently he was appointed Precepteur of the said City. The case of the petitioner further is that the effect of the Chandernagore (Application of Laws) Order 1950 was that except matters which were governed by the various enactments specified in the Schedule of the said Order, all other matters were governed by French Laws which were in force prior to the commencement of the said Order and which remained in force even after promulgation of the said Order. The imposition of petrol duty was outside the purview of the Application of Laws Order 1950 and was a matter governed by French Laws. The respondent being an officer appointed by the Government of India had no power to administer French Laws and as such the order of imposition of the petrol duty and the notice of demand and summons issued by the respondent were all illegal and without jurisdiction, and therefore, unenforceable against the petitioner.

(3.) It is also the case of the petitioner that the resolution passed by the Municipal Assembly of Chandernagore on 19-12-1951 and the order dated 4-4-1952 which made the said resolution operative, are invalid and have no force and effect, inasmuch as the prescribed procedure for making the said resolution a valid and effective piece of legislation was not followed in respect of the said resolution dated 19-12-1951, and consequently the levy of petrol duty and the steps taken for enforcing payment of such duty were entirely without jurisdiction.