TMI Blog2004 (4) TMI 65X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the en mentioned in the Explanation to section 10(20). - For the reasons given above, we find no merit in these petitions and they are dismissed. - - - - - Dated:- 5-4-2004 - Judge(s) : M. KATJU., VINOD CHANDRA MISRA. JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by M. KATJU J. - These two writ petitions raise a common question of law and are hence being disposed of by a common judgment. The petitioner is the Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti, Bulandshahr, which has been constituted under the U.P. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Adhiniyam, 1964. The petitioner has challenged the impugned orders dated March 4, 2004, and October 15, 2003, requiring it to furnish income-tax returns for the assessment year 2003-2004 and also to show cause why p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... le 243P of the Constitution; or iii) Municipal Committee and District board, legally entitled to, or entrusted by the Government with, the control or management of a Municipal or local fund; or (iv) Cantonment Board as defined in section 3 of the Canton Act, 1924 (2 of 1924);" Section 10(29) on which also the petitioner relied has been abolished 1 Finance Act, 2002. A bare perusal of the Explanation to section 10(20) shows that now four entities are local authorities for the purpose of section 10(20) name] Panchayat ; (ii) Municipality; (iii) Municipal Committee and District Bo (iv) Cantonment Board. Krishi Utpadan Mandi Samiti is not one of the en mentioned in the Explanation to section 10(20). It may be noted that the Explanat ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... l principle of interpreting taxing statutes is the principle of strict construction. In this respect taxing statutes are to be interpreted differently from beneficial legislation (e.g., labour laws) vide Surendra Kumar Verma v. Central Government Industrial Tribunal-cum-Labour Court [1980] 57 FJR 67 ; AIR 1981 SC 422, or the Constitution vide State Trading Corporation of India Ltd. v. CTO [1963] 33 Comp Cas 1057 (SC), where the principle of liberal interpretation applies. The principle of strict interpretation of taxing statutes was best enunciated by Rowlatt J., in his classic statement in Cape Brandy Syndicate v. IRC [1921] 1 KB 64: ". . . in a taxing Act one has to look merely at what is clearly said. There is no room for any intendm ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... anguage of a notification under the Central Excise Tariff and held that all that was required for claiming an exemption was that the cotton fabric must be produced on power looms owned by the co-operative society. There was no further requirement in the language of the notification that the cotton fabric must be produced by the society for itself. The Supreme Court refused to go into the question of the intention behind the exemption since the language of the notification was clear. In Assessing Authority-cum-Excise and Taxation Officer v. East India Cotton Manufacturing Co. Ltd. [1981] UPTC 1319 (SC); [1981] 48 SIC 239 (SC), the concessional rate under the Punjab Sales Tax Act was payable if certain raw materials were used in the manufac ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t the hardship may appear to the judicial mind to be. On the other hand, if the Crown seeking to recover the tax, cannot bring the subject within the letter of the law, the subject is free, however apparently within the spirit of the law the case might otherwise appear to be." Hence even if prior to the Finance Act, 2002, this court could have treated the petitioner as a local authority relying on the General Clauses Act, it cannot do so now after the above enactment, since now "local authority" has been defined in the Income-tax Act itself. Sri B. D. Mandhyan, learned counsel for the petitioner, then submitted that article 14 of the Constitution has been violated because some other statutory bodies are treated as local authorities und ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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