TMI Blog1958 (1) TMI 35X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Minerva , The Globe , Sri Krishna and The Nishat . It exhibits cinematograph films, both foreign and Indian, in the said four houses. The respondent, a body corporate, was governed by the Bombay District Municipal Act, 1901 (Bom. III of 1901) up to June 8, 1926, and from then by the Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925 (Bom. XVIII of 1925) up to December 29, 1949, and, thereafter, by the Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, 1949 (Bom. LIX of 1949). With effect from October 1, 1920, the respondent, with the sanction of the Government of Bombay levied on the owners and lessees of cinema houses within the limits of the erstwhile province of Bombay a tax of ₹ 2 per day as license fee. Rules for the levy and collection o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ation that the levy and imposition of the said tax with effect from October 1, 1920, were invalid and illegal; that the enhancement in the rates of the tax with effect first from June 3, 1941, and then June 9, 1948, was invalid and illegal and that the resolutions passed and rules framed in connection with the levy, imposition, enhancement and collection of the said impugned tax were invalid, illegal and ultra vires, for a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from levying or recovering and or increasing and enhancing the said tax and for refund to the appellant of the amounts of the tax collected from it and for costs of the suit and interest. By its judgment dated November 30, 1951, the trial court held that the said tax was val ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t of this appeal is that s. 59(1) (xi) is unconstitutional in that the legislature had completely abdicated its functions and had delegated essential legislative power to the Municipality to determine the nature of the tax to be imposed on the rate payers. Learned counsel for the appellant urges that the power thus delegated to the municipality is unguided, uncanalised and vagrant, for there is nothing in the Act to prevent the municipality from imposing any tax it likes, even, say, income tax. Such omnibus delegation, he contends, cannot on the authorities be supported as constitutional. We find ourselves in agreement with the High Court in rejecting this contention. In the first place, the power of the municipality -cannot exceed the p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... to (x) do not, strictly speaking, belong to the same genus, but they do indicate, to our mind the kind and nature of tax which the municipalities are authorised to impose. Finally, the provincial legislature had certainly not abdicated in favour of the municipality, for the taxing power of the municipality was quite definitely made subject to the approval of the Governor-in-Council. Under the Indian Council Act, 1861 (24 25 Vic. c. 67) the Governor- in-Council might mean the Governor in Executive Council or the Governor in Legislative Council. If the reference in s. 59(1)(xi) is to the Governor's Legislative Council, then there was no improper delegation at all, for it was subject to the legislative control of the Governor in Legisla ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... existing tax ause (a)of the proviso to section 58 municipality may except as otherwise provide in clause provided in clause (b) of the proviso to section 103 at any time for any sufficient reason, suspend, modify or abolish any existing tax by suspending, altering or rescinding any rule prescribing such tax. (2) The provisions of Chapter VII relating to, the imposition of taxes shall apply so far as may be to the suspension, modification or abolition of any tax and to the suspension, alteration or rescission of any rule prescribing a tax. Reference is made to the marginal note where the words used are power to suspend, reduce or abolish any existing tax . It is suggested that the word it modi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he purpose could only have been to use an expression of wider connotation so as to include not only reduction but also other kinds of alteration. Section 76 of this very Act also refers to modification not involving an increase in, the amount to be imposed which makes the sense in which the word modify has been used in this Act perfectly clear, namely, that there may be a modification involving an increase. Reference may also be made to the decision of the Court of Appeal in England in the case of Stevens v. The General Steam Navigation Company, Ltd. L.R. (1903) 1 K.B.890. Modification , according to Collins M. R. in his judgment at p. 893, implied an alteration and the word was equally applicable whether the effect of the alteration ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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