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1999 (8) TMI 761 - SUPREME COURTWhether the two Acts under reference operate in the same field. If so, which one of the two Acts is a special Act? Is the Sugarcane Act an enactment intended solely for the purpose of regulation of supply, production and distribution of sugarcane and the collection of purchase tax under the said Act is only incidental for the purpose of creating a fund for maintenance and functioning of the Board and the Council under the said Act? Whether the levy under the Sugarcane Act is only a fee for the services rendered? Held that:- Appeal allowed. The Sugarcane Act being a special Act pertaining to all aspects of the control of sugarcane as well as levy of purchase tax, the same will have to be construed as a special enactment with reference to sugarcane. Legislative history of the Sugarcane Act bears testimony to the fact that at one point of time the Legislature had intended to collect a levy under sub-section (3) of section 49 as a fee which imposition came to be challenged before the High Court and the challenge succeeded because the State was not able to satisfy the court that the said levy was supported by quid pro quo. It is in this background that the present sub-section (1)(b) of section 49 came to be brought on the statute book, first by way of an Ordinance and then by virtue of an Act, making the collection a tax under entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule. It is too late in the day for the State now to contend once again that the said levy is a fee and not a tax. It may also be noted at this stage that nowhere in the pleadings, material has been placed by the State to satisfy the requirement of levy of fee by showing that there is a reasonable service rendered to the purchasers of sugarcane so as to justify the said levy as a fee.
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