TMI Blog1971 (12) TMI 108X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... The respondents in the appeal are the State of Andhra Pradesh and the Collector of West Godavari District while those in the writ petition are the State of Andhra Pradesh and the Collector of Krishna District. The appellants in the civil appeal belong to different Taluks of the West Godavari District and own extensive areas of land in 10-L736S,SupCl/72 that district. As such, they are liable to pay land revenue. Petitioners Nos. 1 to 38 in the writ petition are residents of Tenneru within the area of Vijayawada Taluk. They own about 500 acres of land in and around that village. The rest of the petitioners are residents of different villages in Krishna district and own an area of about 4,000 acres in that district. As the petition under article 226 of the Constitution of India which is the subject of civil appeal was dismissed at the stage of admission, no affidavit on behalf of the respondents was filed in the High Court. The respondents were consequently permitted to file an affidavit in this Court. Affidavit of Shri D. Venkatdri, Assistant Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh was thereafter filed on behalf of the respondents. A more detailed supplementary affidavit of Shri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rn deltaic division and Godavari Central deltaic division, rupees twenty-five per acre per annum in respect of lands in the division comprising the Godavari western deltaic division and the Krishna eastern and Krishna Central deltaic divisions and at rupees fifteen per acre per annum in respect of lands in the Krishna western deltaic division. It is also proposed to constitute the proceeds of the drainage cess into a separate fund and to establish a Board to administer the said Fund and to apply the proceeds of the drainage_cess derived in a division towards meeting the cost of drainage schemes undertaken in that division. This Bill is intended to give effect to the above objects. The Act came into force on 20th December, 1968. It applies to all the lands comprised within the delta areas of Krishna and Godavari rivers in the State of Andhra Pradesh. According to the preamble of the Act, it is an Act to provide for the levy and collection of drainage cess on all lands comprised within the delta area of the Krishna and Godavari rivers in the State of Andhra Pradesh for the purpose of raising funds to meet the expenses incurred on drainage schemes undertaken in the said delta ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... any land in respect of which no public revenue is payable means the person who would have been liable to pay public revenue had it been payable on such land. Section 3 of the Act deals with levy and collection of drainage cess. According to sub-section (1) of the section, there shall be levied and collected by the Government, for a period of six years from the date of the commencement of the Act, as a drainage cess on every land in the delta area comprised within a division specified in column (2) of the Schedule, for the purposes of this Act in that division, a tax at such rate per acre per annum, not exceeding the rate specified in the corresponding entry in column (3) thereof, as the Government may, by notification, specify in respect of that division. According to sub-section (3) of that section, the drainage cess leviable under the section on any land shall be payable by the owner of such land while according to subsection (2), nothing in sub-section (1) shall prevent the Government from levying and collecting at any time after the expiration of the period of six years the drainage cess or any arrears pertaining thereto, which is leviable or collectable during the said peri ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Board for any purpose common to all or any of the divisions shall be apportioned among the divisions concerned in such manner as may be prescribed. According to section 9, the drainage cess payable under the. Act by an owner in respect of any land shall be deemed to be public revenue due upon the said land and the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Revenue Recovery Act, 1864, shall apply. Section 10 gives power to the Government to fix instalments for payment of drainage cess while section I I empowers the Government to grant exemption or make reduction in case of undue hardship on account of unseen calamity or any other reasonable cause to an owner or class of owners of land. Section 12 pertains to the bar of jurisdiction of civil courts in respect of matters falling within the scope of the authorities acting under the Act. According to section 13, the provisions of the Andhra Pradesh Irrigation (Levy of Betterment Contribution and Advance Betterment Contribution) Act, 1955 in so far as they relate to drainage work, shall not apply to any drainage scheme under the Act. Section 14 gives powers to the Government to give directions to the Board. Rules under the Act are made by t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er annum. 2. The Godavari Central Delta ₹ 10/per acre per annum. 3. The area comprising the ₹ 20/-per acre per annum. Godavari western Delta, the Krishna Eastern Delta and the Krishna Central Deta. 4. The Krishna Western Delta ₹ 15/per acre per annum The High Court while dismissing the appellants writ petition repelled the contention that the provisions of the Act were violative of article 14 of the Constitution and that the levied by the Act was a fee ,and not a tax Likewise, the argument put forth on behalf of the appellants that the state Legislature was not competent to levy drainage cess and there were no effective provisions for appeal and revision not find favour with the High Court. In appeal Dr. Singhvi on behalf of the appellants has challenged the vires of the provisions of the Act on three grounds. It is urged in the first instance that' the, provisions of the Act are violative' of article 14 of the Constitution. Secondly, according to the learned counsel, the rig ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er and recommend proposals for lowering the flood level of Kelleru lake either by improving the outfall channel Upputeru or by Pumping or by both. (iii) To consider and recommend proposals for improving the drainage system in the area and; (iv) Any other recommendation that the Committee desires to make for prevention of floods and inundation. The Committee in its report submitted in January 1966 suggested various measures and schemes for tackling the problem of floods and drainage. The Committee noted that most of the existing drains were small in size and short in length. One of the recommendations of the Committee was that the aforesaid drains should be improved by deepening and widening the to suitable sections. Recommendation was also made that all drains should be brought to their design section and maintained in that condition . The execution of the schemes and implementation of the measures suggested by the Mitra Committee along with the other drainage schemes as might be found necessary after detailed investigation involved an expenditure of several crores of rupees. As the financial resources of the Andhra Pradesh Government were already over-strained, the Gove ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and the benefits likely to be derived from the improvements proposed, it would be neither desirable nor technically feasible 'to further subdivide any of the above divisions into smaller units. On account of the difference in the nature of problems and the needs of improvement requiring different scales of expenditure in each division, it was decided that the levy of drainage cess on the lands in each division should vary in rate in accordance with the estimated expenditure for drainage work in that division. The Chief Engineer of Andhra Pradesh expressed the view that the proposed flood control and drainage schemes could be implemented in a period of six to seven years if adequate financial resources, including foreign exchange for the required dredging equipment, were made available. It was after taking into account the quantum of expenditure on the schemes proposed and the irrigated area which would be benefited as a result of those schemes in each division and--also keeping in view the fact that the period of collection of drainage cess was six years that the State Legislature provided the rates of drainage cess per acre per annum for the four divisions, Originally in the B ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cal and has permitted a very wide latitude in classification for taxation. The above principle was approved by this Court in East India Tobacco Co. v. State of Andhra Pradesh([1963] 1 S.C.R.404) and Twyford Tea Co. Ltd. and Another v., The State of Kerala and Another([1970] 3 S.C.R.383). It was also observed in the last mentioned case that burden is on a person complaining of discrimination and, for this purpose, it is necessary to prove not possible inequality but hostile unequal treatment. The modern trend in all progressive countries is towards establishment of a welfare State and with this end in view, the State has to prepare plans and devise beneficent schemes for the good of the common people. The implementation of those plans and schemes entails colossal expenditure. The State has consequently to tap various sources for augmenting its income and raisin, the revenue. Taxes are levied for this purpose, and the Stat is given a wide range of choice for the purpose of taxation. It is axiomatic that different situations call for different fiscal measures. The State is presumed to know the requirements of the tuition and act accordingly. No rigidity being possible, it is di ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Kutt Naha Ors. Etc. [1967] 3 S.C.R. 28 In the case of K.T. Moopil Nair this Court considered the provisions of Travancore Cochin Land Tax Act, 1955 and found that all lands in the State of whatever description were to be charged basic tax at uniform rate per acre irrespective of the quality of the land and the fact whether it yielded or was capable of yielding any income. In the case of Nalla Raja Reddy [1969] 1 S.C.R. 645 this Court held the provisions of Andhra Pradesh Land Revenue (Additional Assessment) and' Cess Revision Act, 1962 to be violative of article 14. The said' Act was passed to bring uniformity in assessment of land revenue in the Telengana and Andhra areas of the State of Andhra Pradesh. An additional assessment at the rate of 75 per cent of the yearly assessment was imposed on dry land and the total assessment was not to be less than 50 paise per acre. On wet land the additional assessment was to be 100 per cent for land irrigated from a Government source and 50 per cent in case of other wet lands. The minimum total demand was also prescribed. The Act was considered to--be discriminatory as the. minimum had no relation to the fertility of the land ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rom the levy of cess for implementation of a drainage scheme for the benefit of lands in an area and the principles applicable in one, case would not necessarily hold good in the other. Reference has then been made on behalf of the appellants to an American case, Village of Norwvod v. Ellen R. Baker(1). In that case the Court considered special assessment upon an abutting property by the front door without taking special benefits into account for the entire cost and expenditure of opening a street. It was held that the exaction from the owner of a private property of the cost of public improvement in substantial excess of the special benefits accruing to him is to the extent of such excess a taking under the guise of taxation of private, property for public use without compensation. Perusal of that authority shows that the Court invoked the doctrine of due process of law in arriving at the above conclusion. The aforesaid doctrine of due process of law is not applicable to India and, as such, the appellants cannot derive much assistance from that authority. Another American case referred to on behalf of the appellants is Kansas City Southern Railway Co. v. Road Improvement Dist. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t afford a proper, guidance for the following year because the dimensions of the problems in the subsequent year may be hundredfold compared to those of the previous year. This is evident from the figures in the table relied upon by Dr. Singhvi. R would appear therefrom that in the year 1961 only 1,149 acres of land in the Godavari western delta were damaged by floods, while in the year 1959 the damage caused by the floods in that area covered 89,528 acres of land. The material on record further shows that during 1969 floods, an area of as much as 3,69,395 acres out of a total of 4,90,000 acres, that is, about 75 per cent of the appear was damaged by floods in the Godavari western delta. It is, therefore, plain that we cannot stick to the average damage referred to by Dr. Singhvi in considering the scheme of drainage. An effective system of drainage has in the very nature of things to make provision not only for a normal rainfall but also to meet those contingencies as arise when there are unusual rains and heavy floods. It is indeed only then that the efficacy of a drainage system is proved. We also find it difficult to accede to the submission made on behalf of the appellants tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... phical situation some landowners get greater benefit of the drainage scheme because of their lands being more prone to damage by floods is a fortuitous circumstance and the same would not be a valid ground for striking down the impugned legislation. It is well established that if there is equality and uniformity within each group, the law will not be condemned as discriminative though due to some fortuitous circumstances arising out of a peculiar situation, some included in a class get an advantage over others so long as they are not singled out for special treatment. (Khandige Sham Bhat and Others v. The Agricultural Income Tax Officer, Supra). In the case of Vivian Joseph Ferriera and Anr. v. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Bombay Ors. (Supra), this Court dealt with the validity of the Bombay Building Repairs and Reconstruction Board Act of 1969. The said Act related to the problems arising out of the collapse of residential buildings and acute shortage of housing accommodation. Provision was made in the Act for establishing a Board to deal with the said problem by carrying out structural repairs to dangerous buildings by acquiring and reconstructing buildings which were b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ity or make the right of appeal to be illusory. The argument that there has been excessive delegation of the legislative power in the matter of determining the rate of cess is equally devoid of force. According to Dr. Singhvi, the legislature has merely prescribed the maximum rate at which cess may be levied but has not fixed the minimum rate of the cess. The Precise rate of cess is left to the Government by section 3 of the Act and, as such, according to the learned counsel, there has been excessive, delegation of the legislative power. In this connection, we find that it is open to the legislature to prescribe the maximum rate of cess. The authority mentioned in the statute, subject to other legal requirements, can levy cess up to that limit. As things are the State Government in the present case has adhered to the maximum prescribed by the Act vide notification dated December 17/20, 1968. The power of the legislature to fix or change the limit of tax has been discussed in para 165 of the Law of Taxation by Cooley, 4th Edition, in the following, words : Power of legislature to fix or change limit : In addition to, or in place of, constitutional provisions, there are statut ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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