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TMI Blog1961 (2) TMI 71X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... - Name of the Articles Rate of duty 1.Raw cotton and wool (this includes both loose and compressed, made in India or foreign) Rs.1/9/- percent. ad valorem This was notified in the Mysore Gazette on April 3, 1954, and was also published as required by s. 98(1) of the Act. Objections were invited and it is admitted that both the appellants filed their objections. Final resolution under s. 98(2) was passed on December 21, 1954, and the resolution in regard to octroi came into force as from January 1, 1955. It may be mentioned that the final resolution passed under s. 98 (2) of the Act was not published in the Official Gazette but was published in the local newspapers and a notice dated December 23,1954, was also sent to the appellants to the effect that after considering their objections the Municipality had decided to levy an octroi on the goods at the rate already notified. The appellant in C.A. 448/57, filed a petition in the High Court on March 15, 1955, under Art. 226 challenging the validity of the imposition of the octroi on the grounds:- (1) that the tax was in contravention of s. 98(2) of the Act in so far as a notice was not published in the Official Gazette; (2) tha ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... as argued that instead of passing a resolution Imposing the octroi duty, the Corporation should have 'first published its " resolution " to impose the tax and that the Corporation could not at once pass " a resolution " by which it imposed the tax. It published that resolution in the Official Gazette and also in accordance with other provisions of s. 98(1) and invited objections which were filed. The only defect, if defect it can be called at all, was that instead of saying that it " intended " to impose a tax, the notice which was published said the tax "had been resolved to be levied." This is a technicality and is of no substance. The next objection raised was that after the Corporation adopted the resolution imposing the tax which was after considering all the objections the publication was only in local newspapers and there was no publication in the Government Gazette and this, it was submitted, was such a serious defect as to make the imposition illegal and ultra vires. In support counsel for the appellants relied on certain judgments where publication in the Official Gazette was held to be a condition precedent to the legality of ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... octroi duty would be levied and then the procedure under s. 98(1) and (2) had to be gone through is without substance. What the Corporation did was that it passed a resolution choosing these goods to be goods on which octroi duty was to be levied and by the same resolution it resolved that the goods therein specified be taxed at the rate therein specified. There is no contravention of s. 130 even if the contention of the appellants was to be taken most strictly, The goods were specified; the rate of tax to be levied on the goods was also specified; the resolution was passed to that effect and the other procedure laid down in s. 98(1) was then followed. In our opinion it is not necessary that first a resolution should be passed specifying the goods and then another resolution should be passed showing the intention of the Municipality to tax those goods. What has been done substantially complies with the provisions of the Act. It was next argued that the words of Class VIII in Part V of Schedule III where the' words used are " other articles which are not specified above " and which may be approved by the Corporation by order in this behalf meant that the goods must b ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the Legislature has done in the present case is that it has specified certain articles on which octroi duty can be imposed and it has also given to the Municipal Corporation the discretion to determine on what other goods and under what conditions the tax should be levied. That, in our opinion, is not a case which falls under the rule laid down by this Court in Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India [1960] 2 S.C.R. 671. It was contended in C. A. 449/57 that the imposition of duty on raw cotton could not cover processed cotton that is cotton which had been ginned, combed and pressed. The High Court held that the cotton by being ginned or pressed in bales does not cease to be raw cotton and was to be regarded as raw for the purpose of the Act. The same would apply to wool. The notification levying the tax specifically stated that raw cotton and wool included both loose and compressed, i.e., compressed cotton and wool whether it was Indian cotton or foreign cotton. It will not, in our opinion, be a correct meaning to give to the notification if it were " interpreted to apply only to cotton which had been gathered from the fields and had neither been ginned nor pressed." W ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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