TMI Blog1933 (2) TMI 14X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... July 11, the Revenue Divisional Officer passed orders assessing the goods produced at the factory from its establishment up to the end of 1922 at ₹ 6,300. The plaintiff, who had as already stated ceased to be the proprietor, paid this sum in instalments under protest and filed this suit to recover it as an illegal levy. He bases his claim upon three separate grounds; firstly, that no duty can be assessed or collected in the absence of a return made by the proprietor; secondly, that the Act does not provide for the collection of arrears, thirdly, that the liability, if any, has devolved upon the company which purchased the mill. To understand the first contention it is necessary to look at some of the provisions of the Cotton Duties Act. Section 6 directs that there shall be levied and collected at every mill in British India upon all cotton goods produced in such mill a duty at the rate of 3? per centum of the value of such goods. Under Section 8 the owner has to prepare and deliver to the Collector each month a return of the cotton goods produced at his mill during the preceding month, stating the quantity and value. This return has to be delivered within three working da ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le, and the mere fact that it is described as payable in respect of the period to which the return relates cannot be read as meaning that if no return be made there can be no period in respect of which it is payable. The section is so worded because it has in contemplation the normal case, when the mill-holder complies with the terms of the Act. But the power of the Collector to make the assessment, so given, cannot be limited either by any defect in the return or even by the absence of any return. Under Section 16, the Collector is given wide powers of inspection, examination of records and accounts of the mill, etc., for the purpose of testing the accuracy of any return or of informing himself as to any particulars regarding which information is required for the purposes of the Act and under Rule 3 of the rules framed under the Act he has to check the return in any manner that may appear to him desirable and may for such purpose examine and compare the records and accounts of the mill. Ample provision is thus made for arriving at a correct assessment of the duty independently of the information furnished by the return. The return, in fact, is only intended to facilitate assessm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the child has not been vaccinated, he may, if he thinks fit, make an order. Mellor, J., delivering judgment to the same effect, observed:- If the parent refuses to produce it, it is not to be supposed that that is to obstruct the operation of the Act and prevent the Magistrate from proceeding and making an order, if, after examination of the evidence, he finds that the child has not been vaccinated. Similarly, here the return which the mill owner has to submit would afford good prima facie evidence of the quantity and value of the goods produced at the mill. But if the owner refuses to make the return he must not thereby be allowed to obstruct the working of the Act and prevent the Collector from obtaining the required information in some other manner and so making the assessment. It is no doubt true that a statute which imposes a duty must be strictly construed, but only, I think, in so far as the imposition of the liability is concerned. The principle does not extend to mere matters of procedure devised as the best means in all ordinary circumstances to collect the impost. A case which emphasises this distinction is Werle Co. v. Colquhoun, where the contention ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... be formed of the value of the goods produced upon the best information available. If it be granted that the power to assess independently of any return is given by the Act the method and result of such assessment may be the subject of departmental appeal but so long as it conformed to ordinary notions of fairness it cannot be questioned in a suit of this character. The second contention is that even if the Act allowed an assessment to be made in the circumstances of this case, it does not authorise the collection of arrears of duty, at any rate arrears accruing over a period of years. Admittedly it does not expressly impose any time limit, but it is contended that there is implied in its provisions a more or less immediate assessment and collection of the duty. The duty, it is said, is leviable on a monthly basis in the interests of the producer, so that he may be in a position to fix the price of his goods and to dispose of them; and it would work hardship if it were allowed to remain for any length of time unassessed and uncollected. There are, I think, several considerations which weaken the force of this argument. In the first place the producer can be under no misapprehens ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pality and not upon the tax-payer to take the initial step and some consideration was given to the inconvenience or hardship which would be involved in such arrear collections. There was no question in that case of a default on the part of the assessee. It was also held that the tax was in the nature of a licence which has to be paid contemporaneously, whereas here it is recoverable after the expiry of the period to which it relates. In their discussion of the question whether the tax was 'due', I do not understand the learned Judges to mean that liability had never arisen for its payment, because Section 113 of the Madras City Municipal Act, clearly makes residence ipso facto give rise to liability, thereby differing from the case of water cess dealt with in Ramachandra Appa Rao v. Secretary of State for India. There was in fact a liability to the tax, but it was not 'due' until it had been assessed, and the same is true in the present case. But that does not affect the question whether or not liability for arrears can be enforced. Some attempt has also been made to derive assistance from the Sea Customs Act (VIII of 1878) several of the provisions of which have by ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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