K K WADHWANI Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) THE petitioner, Mrs. K. K. Wadhwani, holds a permit for a stage carriage operating on the Jaipur-Tonk route commencing from 5th September, 1955, to 4th september, 1958. On this route there is a bridge about 5 miles from Tonk City on the river Banas, which is known as Frazer Bridge. This was constructed in 1937 in the erstwhile State of Tonk. The State of rajasthan, into which the former Tonk State has integrated, demands annas / 12/- for the passing or repassing of any public vehicle on that bridge. She had to pay Rs. 24/- for passing and re-passing the said bridge between the period of 289-1955, when she put her bus No. RJL 3705 on the road, and 15-12-1955, at the rate of 12 annas for each passing or repassing the bridge, according to the statement furnished by her, it is contended on her behalf that the said imposition of annas 12 is by way of tax, and is not authorised by law, and the State of Rajasthan be prohibited from collecting the said tax when her stage carriage passes or repasses the Frazer bridge on the Jaipur-Tonk route.

(3.) THE reply on behalf of the State is that prior to the construction of the Frazer bridge, the Municipal Board of Tonk used to construct a lair-weather road over the bed of the river Banas to facilitate the crossing of the river by the public, and a toll was charged according to a certain schedule of rates in respect of all sorts of vehicles and animals passing over that fair-weather road, and on the construction of the bridge this toll was ordered to be realised by the Public Works Department of the State by the Government of Tonk State. It was alleged that the levy of 12 annas from every public vehicle which passes over the bridge is a fee to meet the cost of construction of the bridge and its maintenance, and was formerly realised under orders of His Highness the Nawab of Tonk, who was the sovereign authority in the State, and the same right to levy has been acquired by the State on account of the merger of that State into the greater State of Rajasthan, It was contended that toll was not a tax. It was used to be realised under the authority of law in the former Tonk State, and its realisation now is not invalid.