TMI Blog1979 (10) TMI 226X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the amount of cess impugned in each of the appeals as also other relevant particulars: No.of appeal Name of appellant Amount of Cess (Rs.) Period to which the amount relates Date of the order of assessment Authority passing the order 1 2 3 4 5 6 Civil Appeal No. 39 of 1969 The Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana Ltd. Sangli. 370072.50 1-7-1959 to 30-6-1960 21-12-60 Sugarcane Cess Officer, Sangli. Civil appeal No.40 of 1969 The Shetkari Sahakari Sakhar Kar khana Ltd. Sangli. 801131.24 1-7-1960 to 30-6-1961 24-5-66 Sugarcane Cess Officer Sangli Civil Appeal No. 2470 of 1968 Do. 324610.35 1-7-1961 to 31-12-1961 24-5-66 DO. Civil Appeal No.1925 of 1972 Ashok Sahakari S ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 7 and 8 provide for the assessment, recovery and collection of the sugarcane cess. The rest of the Act consists of miscellaneous provisions which need not be referred to here. 4. Now we may detail the circumstances in which the Central Act was made part of the statute book. In 1956 the U.P. legislature passed the U.P. Sugarcane Cess Act (hereinafter referred to as the U.P. Act ) the provisions of which were similar to that of the Bombay Act. Section 3 of the U.P. Act authorised the State Government to impose, by notification in the official gazette, a cess not exceeding four annas per maund on the entry of sugarcane into the premises of a factory for use, consumption or sale therein. The constitutional validity of that section was challenged in Diamond Sugar Mills Ltd. Another v. The State of Uttar Pradesh Another. Reliance on behalf of the State was placed on Entry 52 in List II forming part of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India in support of the argument that the cess was validly levied. That Entry reads thus: 52. Taxes on the entry of goods into a local area for consumption, use or sale therein. The counsel for the appellant in that case however cont ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r the refund of any cess paid under any State Act; (b) no court shall enforce a decree or order directing the refund of any cess paid under any State Act; and (c) any cess imposed or assessed under any State Act before the commencement of this Act but not collected before such commencement may be recovered (after assessment of the cess, where necessary) in the manner provided under that Act. 5. We may now take up for consideration the contentions raised at the hearing before us. Mr. A. K. Sen representing the appellant in Civil Appeal No. 2470 of 1968 argued in the first instance that the Central Act merely authorized the collection of amounts which had already been imposed, assessed or collected and that no assessment, recovery or collection could be made under section 3 of the Central Act read with the relevant provisions of the Bombay Act after the enforcement of the Central Act. The contention is without force and in this connection we need do no more than refer to the language of clause (c) above extracted which specifically authorizes both assessment and recovery of the cess after the commencement of the Central Act, and to two earlier decisions of this Court in wh ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndicated, Mr. Pathak does not dispute-and rightly-that it is competent to Parliament to make a law in respect of the cesses in question, to apply the provision of such a law to the different States, and to make them retrospective in operation.... The second case on the point is reported as Bhopal Sugar Industries Ltd., v. State of Madhya Pradesh and others in which Shinghal and Desai, JJ., followed the Jaora Sugar Mills case and Shinghal, J., who delivered the judgment of the Court spoke thus in connection therewith : The decision in Diamond Sugar Mills case came up for consideration in this Court in Jaora Sugar Mills (P) Ltd. v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others with a specific reference to the provisions of the State Act, and it was once again held, following that decision, that the imposition of the cess was outside the legislative competence of the State. While examining that aspect of the controversy, this Court made it clear that what Parliament had done by enacting section 3 of the Validation Act was not to validate the invalid State statutes, but to make a law concerning the cess covered by the said statutes and to provide that the said law shall come into operation ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... wn the width and amplitude of the legislative competence conferred on Parliament by Art. 248 read with Entry 97 in List I of the Seventh Schedule. Whether or not retrospective operation of such a law is reasonable, may fall to be considered in certain cases; but that consideration has not been raised before us and in the circumstances of this case, it cannot validity be raised either. We must, therefore, hold that the High Court was right in rejecting the appellant s case that the Act was invalid, and hence no demands could be made under its provisions either for a cess or for commission. With the greatest respect, we find no reason at all to differ. 7. Article 265 of the Constitution of India was pressed into service by Mr. Shanti Bhushan in support of the proposition that no tax could be levied or collected except by authority of law. The proposition is unexceptionable but we fail to see in what manner Parliament lacked the authority of law while enacting the Central Act and incorporating into it the provisions of the Bombay Act. As pointed out above, Entry 97 in List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India provides full legislative competence to Parliament ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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