STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. DAULATRAM MOOLCHAND

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE following reference has been made to us by one of our colleagues sitting singly - "whether the revision application in sales tax cases which were started prior to the coming into force of the Amendment Act No. 9 of 1965 should continue to be heard and disposed of by a Bench of the Board composed of a Single Member?"

(2.) UNDER sec. 14 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, (Act No. 29 of 1954) as originally enacted, the power of revision in sales tax cases vested in the Commissioner. However, sec. 14 of the Act was amended by Act 37 of 1960 so as to substitute the Board of Revenue for the Commissioner. This amendment came into force on 24. 10. 1960, and since then revisions in sales tax cases are being heard by the Board of Revenue. The manner of exercise of its revisional jurisdiction in sales tax cases was not laid down in the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, and the Board followed the same procedure in such cases as has been laid down in revenue matters under the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 and the rules made thereunder. Sec. 10 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, provides as follows - "10. Jurisdiction of the Board how exercised - (1) Except as otherwise provided by or under this Act or by any other law or enactment for the time being in force in the whole or any part of the State and subject to any rules made in the behalf, the jurisdiction of the Board may be exercised - (a) by the Chairman or any other member of the Board, sitting singly, or (b) by a Bench of the Board, consisting of two or more members. Provided that a party aggrieved by a decision of a Single Member shall have the right to make a special appeal to a bench consisting of two or more members of the Board within one month from the date of the decision of single member. (2) Subject to any rules made in that behalf, the Chairman may distribute the business of the Board and make such territorial or other divisions of its jurisdiction as he may deem fit. (3) Every order made or act done under sub-sec. (1) or in accordance with the distribution or division made under sub-sec. (2), shall be deemed to be the order or act, as the case may be, of the Board. " Rules 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Revenue Courts Manual Part I prescribe the type of cases which may be heard and disposed of by a Member sitting singly and by a Division Bench. These two rules as they stood before the 20th June, 1963 are reproduced below - "8. Class of cases heard by a Member sitting singly - The following class of cases may he heard and disposed of by a member sitting singly - (i) Miscellaneous applications; (ii) Applications for setting aside an order of dismissal for default by the Board or an ex parte decision given by the Board, (iii) Applications for review of the orders and judgment passed by a single member of the Board, (iv) references, (v) Applications for transfer of cases. 9. Class of cases heard by a Division Bench - -The following class of cases shall be heard and disposed of by a Division Bench - (i) All decrees or orders coming under the consideration of the Board on appeal; (ii) Revisions when the lower Court's decree or order is to be modified or reversed; With effect from the 20th June, 1963, Rules 8 and 9 were amended so as to bring revisions within the jurisdiction of a member sitting singly. As a result, revisions in sales tax cases have been heard by members sitting singly since 20th June, 1963. The Rajasthan Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill, 1965 was published in the Rajasthan Gazette on the 25th March, 1965. Clause 9 of this Bill ran as follows : "9. Amendment of sec. 14 Rajasthan Act 29 of 1955. In sec. 14 of the Sales Tax Act: (d) After sub-sec. (2), the following new sub-sections shall be added, namely: (3) Any member of the Board of Revenue sitting alone shall have the power to hear and dispose of an application for revision under this section, and his order in such cases shall, subject to the provisions of section 15, be final and no appeal shall lie therefrom to any other bench of the Board of Revenue notwithstanding anything contained in sec. 10 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956 (Rajasthan Act 15 of 1956 ). (4) No order under this section shall be passed without giving the dealer as also the authority whose order is sought to be revised or their representatives, a reasonable opportunity of being heard. " The Bill manifested the intention to make specific provision for the manner of exercise of revisional jurisdiction by the Board of Revenue in sales tax cases as distinguished from cases falling under the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956. The intention was that sales tax cases should be heard by Members of the Board sitting singly whose decision should be final. However, the law as actually enacted on 27. 4. 1965 was radically different as would appear from sec. 9 of Rajasthan Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1965 (Act 9 of 1965): "amendment of sec. 14, Rajasthan Act 29 of 1965 - In sec. 14 of the Sales Tax Act: (d) after sub-sec. (2), the following new sub-sections shall be added, namely: (3) Where an application for revision has been made under sub-sec. (1) or sub-sec. (2), it shall be heard and disposed of by a bench of not less than two members of the Board of Revenue. (4) Where such members are equally divided in opinion as to the order to be made in such a case, the case shall be referred to another member and decided in accordance with the opinion of the majority of the members including such other member who heard it. " The question that arises is whether in case in which the lis commenced before the 27th day of April, 1965, the revisional jurisdiction of the Board should be exercised in the manner laid down in sec. 10 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956, read with Rules 8 and 9 of the Rajasthan Revenue Courts Manual part I, or whether all applications for revision pending in the Board of Revenue on 27. 4. 1965 as well as the applications which may be filed thereafter should be heard in Division Bench as provided in sec. 9 of the amending Act (Act 9 of 1965 ). The arguments of the learned Advocate General fall into four parts: (a) That it was competent for the Legislature to make a specific provision for the manner of exercise of jurisdiction by the Board of Revenue in sales tax cases as distinguished from the general provisions of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act, 1956. (b) That sec. 10 of the Rajasthan Land Revenue Act itself envisages that specific provision for the manner of exercise of jurisdiction by the Board of Revenue may be made by any other law for the time being in force; (c) That the provision made by Sec. 9 of the Rajasthan Taxation Laws (Amendment) Act, 1965 (Act 9 of 1965) for the manner of exercise of jurisdiction by the Board of Revenue is a matter of procedure and is therefore effective immediately. (d) that the aforesaid amendment affecting the mode of revisions by the Board of Revenue does not abolish or impair any right, and that in any case revision is not a right on the same footing as an appeal.

(3.) THE counsel for the assessees on the other hand argued that revision petition and the manner in which it has to be heard was a vested right of the parties together with a special right of appeal and since this right was not expressly curtailed by the amending Act and that there was no necessary implication for curtailment of the right that could be gathered from the provision made in the amendment Act, the right of the party to be heard in revision together with a right of special appeal cannot be taken away by the present amendment.