HAWKINS COOKERS LTD Vs. MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE short issue raised in the instant petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution is whether the petitioner is liable to pay octroi under Entry No. 86 (category 12) of the Octroi schedule incorporated by Section 61(2) of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (for brevity 'the Act') @ Rs. 9/- per quintal or under Entry No. 92 (category 12) @ Rs. 20/- per quintal of the schedule. It is pertinent to mention that when the petition came up for motion hearing on 21.4.1988 a Division Bench of this Court passed a conditional stay order directing the petitioner to keep paying octroi under Entry 86 which was subject to its executing a surety bond in favour of the Municipal Committee-respondent No. 1 to the effect that in the event of dismissal of the writ petition the petitioner would make good the deficiency in accordance with Entry 92 to the satisfaction of the Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur. Eventually the petition was admitted on 5.10.1988 alongwith interim directions by giving liberty to the petitioner to move appropriate application for vacation of the stay order before the Learned Single Judge. However, the interim order has continued to operate till date.

(2.) FEW material facts may be noticed. The petitioner is a firm engaged in the manufacturing of pressure cookers. They have been importing raw material in the local area of Hoshiarpur which constitute mainly aluminum which is received by it in various shapes like sheets, circles, bars, rolls etc. The firm used to be charged octroi on aluminum circle @ Rs. 9/- per quintal under entry 92 (category 12). Their case before the statutory authorities has been that its supplier has been supplying cut sheets while rolling the material in their mill as per the requirement of the petitioner. Likewise they supply cut circles while rolling material as per their demand which is easy for packing and transportation purposes and results in relatively lower scrapings of aluminum which is a scarce metal in this country. The Executive Officer of the respondent Committee, however, clarified that department would be charging @ Rs. 20/- per quintal for aluminum circles. The matter travelled to Deputy Commissioner in an appeal filed by the petitioner under Section 84 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911 (P.3). However, the Deputy Commissioner in its appellate order considered the rival contentions and dismissed the appeal upholding the order of the Executive Officer that the aluminum circles were assessable under Entry 86 (category 12). The view of the Deputy Commissioner is discernible from the penultimate para of his order dated 19.1.1988 which reads thus : "The appellant company is bringing aluminum sheets, aluminum bars and aluminum circles to this factory premises for manufacturing pressure cookers. Whereas the aluminum sheet and aluminum bars are being charged octroi as specified under Article 86, aluminum circles are being charged octroi as per article 92. The appellant company is manufacturing pressure cookers of various sizes. For manufacturing the pressure cooker vessels, almiumum circles of various sizes are used and these circles are put into machine for giving them a shape of the pressure cooker vessel. Each particular aluminum circle is brought to the factory of a given size, so that the required sized pressure cooker vessel can be machined out of it. Thus aluminum circles are of specific cut sizes, which have been cut to order by the firm from which the appellant company buy these aluminum circles. There, the aluminum circles cannot be treated as sheets or bars defined under article 86. There are very much articles and, therefore, fit to be charged as per the schedule given in article 92 of the schedule of octroi. I have also seen the State Government's notification dated 9.3.1961, vide which it has been specifically mentioned that a tax called octroi on the gross weight of consignment, including packing drums and other articles used in packing of the articles shall be imposed. Therefore, the Municipal Committee is justified in charging the octroi on the gross rate."

(3.) MS . Sudeepti Sharma, learned State counsel and Mr. I.P.S. Doabia, learned counsel for the respondents has supported the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner and argued that the matter is covered by Entry 92 and the octroi is assessable @ Rs. 20/- per 100 kgs. It has been submitted that the petitioner company is bringing in the local area aluminum sheets, aluminum bars and aluminum circles for manufacturing pressure cookers. There is no controversy with regard to aluminum sheets and bars which have been specified in Entry 86 and the same are charged @ Rs. 9/- per 100 kgs. whereas aluminum circles are charged @ Rs. 20/- per 100 kgs as per Entry 92. According to her aluminum circles are brought to the local area which is of a size made by the dealer according to the requirement of the petitioner so that pressure cookers of different sizes could be made out of them. Therefore, the aluminum circles cannot be treated as sheet or bar as per the definition given in Entry 86.