TMI Blog1960 (9) TMI 9X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... tion 3 of the Act, and the immunity claimed by the appellant is not one of the personal rights or privileges within the meaning of the merger agreement and that the claim made by the appellant is not justiciable, the objection raised by the appellant to liability to pay agricultural income-tax assessed under the Act cannot be sustained. Appeal dismissed. - C.A. 307 OF 1958 - - - Dated:- 21-9-1960 - Judge(s) : S. K. DAS., M. HIDAYATULLAH., K. C. DAS GUPTA., J. C. SHAH., N. RAJAGOPALA AYYANGAR JUDGMENT The judgment of the court was delivered by SHAH, J. Civil Appeals Nos. 307 to 309 of 1958 This is a group of three appeals filed with certificate of fitness under article I32 of the Constitution issued by the High Court of Judicature, Orissa. The Legislature of the Province of Orissa enacted the Orissa Agricultural Income-tax Act (XXIV of 1947)--hereinafter referred to as the Act--providing for the levy of income-tax on agricultural income derived from lands situated in the Province of Orissa. This Act was brought into operation from July 10, 1947. By section 3, agricultural income-tax at the rate or rates specified in the schedule was made payable for each fi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... was later replaced by the Orissa Merged States (Laws) Act (XVI of 1950). The appellant was then called upon by the Agricultural Income-tax Officer to furnish a return of his agricultural income. The appellant disputed his liability to pay the agricultural income-tax and declined to furnish the return. The Agricultural Income-tax Officer then proceeded to make enquiries about the income received from the lands held by the appellant and assessed him to pay tax for the years 1949-50 to 1953-54. He also imposed a penalty upon the appellant for failure to submit his returns for the years 1949-50 and 1950-51. Against the order assessing him to tax and directing him to pay penalty, the appellant preferred appeals to the Assistant Collector of Agricultural Income-tax, Sambalpur. The appeals were dismissed by that officer. Revision applications to the Collector of Commercial Taxes, Cuttack, and to the Board of Revenue were unsuccessful. The appellant filed four petitions in the High Court of Orissa, being Petitions Nos. 17, 16, 19 and 137 of 1954 challenging the assessments made by the taxing authorities for the years 1949-50, 1950-51, 1951-52 and 1952-53 respectively, and two more peti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s, privileges, dignities and titles of the appellant. It was provided by article 4 that the Raja, the Rani, the Rajmata, the Yuvraja and the Yuvrani shall be entitled to all personal privileges enjoyed by them whether within or outside the territories of the State, immediately before the 15th day of August, 1947. The appellant contends that as a Ruler of the State of Sonepur, he was, before merger of his State, immune from liability to taxation in respect of his private property both within his territory and outside. He claims that he was so immune in respect of his property within his State as a Ruler and in respect of his property outside the State by the rules of international law which, he submits, protect from taxation the properties of a Ruler of a State situate in a foreign State. The appellant says that by, articles 4 and 5, the Dominion Government guaranteed to him all his personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles enjoyed within or without the territory immediately before the 15th August, 1947, and that any attempt to tax his private property by the State of Orissa or by the Union Government violates that guarantee. The appellant submits that, to give effect ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... son in section 2, clause (i), of the Act was made not with the object of excluding the Rulers of former Indian States from liability to pay tax ; it was only made to delete a clause which, in view of political changes, had no practical significance. Liability to pay tax is imposed by the Act and there is in the Act no express exemption in favour of the appellant. The claim of the appellant to exemption on the ground that he is not a person cannot, therefore, be sustained. Article 362 of the Constitution provides : In the exercise of the power of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State to make laws or in the exercise of the executive power of the Union or of a State, due regard shall be had to the guarantee or assurance given under any such covenant or agreement as is referred to in article 291 with respect to the personal rights, privileges and dignities of the Ruler of an Indian State. Article 291 of the Constitution deals with the privy purse of the Rulers under any covenant or agreement entered into by the Ruler of any Indian State before the commencement of the Constitution, payment whereof is free from tax as has been granted or assured by the Government o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... efore us may be briefly referred to. It was urged that of the forty-two villages of which the appellant is held by the assessing authority to be the holder, two were in the year 1945 transferred by him to the Yuvrani (the appellant's son's wife) and, on that account, the income of those villages was not liable to be taxed in his hands. It appears from the assessment order that this contention was raised before the Agricultural Income-tax Officer and that officer rejected the contention relying upon section 14, clause (1), of the Act. It is unnecessary for the purpose of these appeals to decide whether the assessing officer was right in the view which he took. In the petitions filed by the appellant in the High Court, this plea was not raised and no relief was claimed by him in respect of the income of the two villages. The question was never mooted before the High Court and the State of Orissa had no opportunity of meeting the claim now sought to be made by the appellant. On the ground that the question was never raised in the High Court, we reject this contention. It was also urged that whereas the assessing officer has found that the appellant had lands in forty-two vi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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