MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE Vs. GOVERNOR-GENERAL IN COUNCIL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an appeal from the decree of the learned Senior Sub-Judge of Delhi, affirming on appeal the decision of a Subordinate Judge decreeing the plaintiff's claim for refund of a sum of Rs. 188-10.0 alleged to have been wrongfully levied by the defendant by way of wheel tax on certain carts belonging to the B.B. and C.I. Railway, Bombay and plied in the city of Delhi and for issuing a perpetual injunction to the defendant restraining them from levying such tax from the plaintiff in future.

(2.) In 1914, the Municipal Committee of Delhi decided to levy wheel tax on all wheeled vehicles plied within the municipal limits of Delhi and the requisite formalities for the imposition of the tax were duly gone through. The B.B. and C.I. Railway, Bombay, has got a number of bullock carts that are plied within the said limits. A sum of Rs. 188-10-0 having been recovered from the said Railway Administration by the committee on account of wheel tax in respect of the said carts, the suit giving rise to the present second appeal was instituted by the Governor-General in Council represented by the General Manager of the B.B. and C.I. Railway, Bombay.

(3.) Section 135, Railways Act provides: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any enactment, or in any agreement or award based on any enactment, the following rules shall regulate the levy of taxes in respect of railways and from railway administrations in aid of the funds of the local authorities, namely; (1) A railway administration shall not be liable to pay any tax in aid of the funds of any local authority unless the general controlling authority has by notification in the official Gazettedeclared the railway administration to be liable to pay the tax.... The rest of the section is not material for the purpose of the present case. The words originally appearing in Clause (1) of the section were "Governor-General in Council" but by Adaptation Order of 1937 they were replaced by the words "general controlling authority."