TMI Blog1957 (9) TMI 33X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... y outset are: (1) Does our judgment in Sales Tax Reference No. 2 of 1954 consti- tute "a judgment, decree or final order"? and (2) even if it does, can it be considered a judgment, decree or final order "in a civil proceeding"? 3.. The Sales Tax Reference was under sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Cochin Sales Tax Act (XV of 1121). Sub-sections (1) (omitting the two provisos thereto), (2) and (5) of section 24 read as follows: "(1) Within sixty days of the date on which he is served with notice of an order under section 16, or of an order under section 17 or of an order under section 18, enhancing an assessment or penalty or otherwise prejudicial to him, the assessee in respect of whom the order was passed may, by application accompan ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r section 21 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act (VI of 1944) can be considered as "a final judgment, decree or order" coming under clause 31 of the Letters Patent of the Patna High Court came up for decision. The judgment summed up the provisions of section 21 of the Bihar Sales Tax Act (VI of 1944) as follows: "Section 21 of the Act provides that if the Board of Revenue refuses to make a reference to the High Court, the applicant may apply against such refusal, and the High Court, if it is not satisfied that such refusal was justified, may require the Board of Revenue to state a case and refer it to the High Court. The section also provides that "The High Court upon the hearing of any such case shall decide the question of law raised thereby, and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... where a statute provided that a case might be stated for the decision of the Court it was held that though the language might prima facie import that there has to be the equivalent of a judgment or order, yet when the context was looked at it appeared that the jurisdiction of the Court appealed to was only consultative, and that there was nothing which amounted to a judgment or order'." 5.. Section 24(5) of the Cochin Sales Tax Act (XV of 1121) corres- ponds to section 66(5) of the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922: "The High Court upon the hearing of any such case shall decide the questions of law raised thereby and shall deliver its judgment thereon containing the grounds on which such decision is founded and shall send a copy of such judgme ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e and therefore the decision of the High Court is a judgment within the meaning of Article 133(1). If 'judgment' was used in the sense in which that expression is used in the Civil Procedure Code and in the sense in which it is used in section 66(5), viz., the grounds on which the decision of a Court is based, then undoubt- edly Sir Jamshedji would be right. But, in our opinion-and our opinion is supported by authorities as I shall presently point out-the expression 'judgment, decree or final order' used in Article 133(1) is used in its technical English sense, which means a final declaration or deter- mination of the rights of parties and it also means a decision given on merits. 'Judgment, decree or final order' is a compendious expressio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... o hold that our Consti- tution-makers with section 205 before them when they used the same language that was used in section 205 used it with a different meaning in Article 133(1)." 7.. We entertain no doubt that a "judgment" delivered under sec- tion 24(5) of the Cochin Sales Tax Act (XV of 1121) is not a "judgment, decree or final order" as contemplated by Article 133 of the Constitu- tion, and that this petition should fail. 8.. In the view we have taken it is unnecessary to decide the second of the two questions mentioned in paragraph 2 above and it is not con- sidered in this judgment. 9.. The petition is hereby dismissed though in the circumstances of the case without any order as to costs. Petition dismissed. - - TaxTMI - ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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