CHANDI CHARAN LAHA Vs. CERTIFICATE OFFICER

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A very interesting question of law has been raised and ably argued in this case, namely, whether the Certificate Officer who has issued the certificate of which a copy is annexed to the petition (annexure 'A') has jurisdiction to issue the certificate in question to recover the arrears of sales tax and penalty due from the petitioner for the four quarters ending Chaitra 1365 B.S., in view of the fact that the business in respect of which the sales tax was assessed is being carried on within the limits of the Presidency town of Calcutta and the assets of the certificate-debtor are also situated within that town, the certificate office being a certificate office of the District 24-Parganas, which, for administrative purposes, does not include the Presidency town of Calcutta. The manner in which dues under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act of 1941 have come to be realised by the certificate procedure is as follows : Section 11(4) of the Sales Tax Act provides-'"Any amount of tax or penalty which remains unpaid after the date specified in the said notice shall be recoverable as an arrear of land revenue as if it were payable to the Collector..." It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that since there is no definition of the word "Collector" in this Act, the meaning of that word must be found out from the definition of "Collector" in the Bengal General Clauses Act, 1890, Section 3(8) of which says-"Collector" shall mean, in Calcutta, the Collector of Calcutta, and elsewhere the Chief Officer in charge of the revenue administration of a district. It is urged that if the meaning of the above definition be applied to the provision in Section 11(4) then the Certificate Officer of 24-Parganas cannot enforce a demand which is not payable to the Collector of 24-Parganas, but payable to the Collector of Calcutta. But the jurisdiction of the Certificate Officer under the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act is not necessarily confined to dues payable to the Collector of 24-Parganas. The Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913 (hereafter referred to as the Act) extends to the whole of West Bengal by virtue of the provision of Section 1(2) thereof, and Section 4 provides as follows: When the Certificate Officer is satisfied that any public demand payable to the Collector is due, he may sign a certificate, in the prescribed form, stating that the demand is due, and shall cause the certificate to be filed in his office.

(2.) The expression "payable to the Collector" in Section 11(4) of the Sales Tax Act has, therefore, to be read together with that expression in Section 4 of the Act of 1913. The definition of "Collector" in the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act, 1913, accordingly comes into play. It has however been urged by the learned Advocate for the petitioner that there was no definition of the word "Collector" in the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act of 1913 when it was originally enacted and the definition in Section 3(3a) was inserted by the amendment Act of 1953. Not only in connection with this amendment, but in relation to the other amendments to this Act of 1913, to which we shall have presently to refer, it has been contended on behalf of the petitioner that the amendments subsequent to the enactment of the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act of 1941, cannot be of any avail to the interpretation of the Act of 1941 according to the doctrine of legislation by incorporation. That doctrine, however, has no application to the instant case, because Section 11(4) does not specifically refer to the Bengal Public Demands Recovery Act of 1913 as such. It only says that the sales tax shall be recoverable as an arrear of land revenue. If that be so, whatever be the law under which arrears of land revenue can be recovered for the time being, shall be applicable to the recovery of dues under Section 11(4). In that view, there is no reason why the amendments made in the Act of 1913 subsequent to 1941, cannot be applied to interpret and administer the provision of Section 11(4) of the Sales Tax Act of 1941 to-day.

(3.) Coming now to the definition of "Collector" in Section 3(3a) as introduced in 1953, it is in these terms : 'Collector' means the chief officer in charge of the revenue administration of a district and includes an Additional District Magistrate appointed under Sub-section (2) of Section 10 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.