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CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 748 of 1975.

From the Judgment and Order dated 3.12.1971 of the Allahabad High Court in Special Appeal No. 289 of 1963. R.K. Maheshwari for the Appellant.

Rachna Gupta, (NP) and Mrs. Rani Chhabra for the Re- spondent.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by K.N. SAIKIA, J. This appeal by special leave is from the Judgment and order dated 3.12.1971 of the Allahabad High Court in Special Appeal No. 289 of 1963 dismissing the appeal and consequently the writ petition. The appellant is a (Pacca Arahatiya) commission agent engaged in the sale and purchase of grains, rice, oil-seeds and jaggery in the town of Chirgaon, District Jhansi. On March 4, 1933, the Government of U.P. published a Notification purported to have been issued under section 38(1) of the United Provinces Town Areas Act 1914 (Act-II of 1914), hereinafter referred to as 'the Town Areas Act', which read as under:

"No. 090/XI-158-T. It is hereby notified that the Governor acting with his Ministers, in exercise of the powers con- ferred by s. 38(1) of the United Provinces Town Areas Act 1914 (II of 1914) is pleased to extend the provisions of s. 298(2)(F)(d) of the United Provinces Municipalities Act 19 16 to the Town Area of Chirgaon in the Jhansi District in the modified form set forth below:
Modified section of the United Provinces Munici- palities Act, 1916 (II of 1916) s. 298(2)(F)(d) "The Pan- chayat may make bye-laws for the establishment, regulation and inspection of market and for the proper and cleanly Conduct of business therein."

Later by section 4 of the United Provinces Town Area (Amendment) Act, 1934 (U.P. Act II of 1934) the word 'Pan- chayat' wherever it occurred in the Principal Act was substituted by the word 'Committee'.

It may be noted that the Town Area Panchayat was super- seded for a period of one year with effect from 20.10.1933 to 19.10.1934 and was revived thereafter.

The District Magistrate, Jhansi promulgated a set of bye-laws dated 18.11.1934 for the establishment, regulation and inspection of the market in the Town Area of Chirgaon and for the proper and cleanly conduct of business therein. Under Bye-law (1), sellers and purchasers of the commodities mentioned thereunder were required to pay weighing dues. It said:

Before us Mr. R.K. Maheshwari, the learned counsel for the appellant, submits, inter alia, that the Bye-laws were invalid at the time when those were framed and could not have been validated by mere adoption by the TAC in 1935; that the weighing dues were merely in the nature of purchase tax and were illegal inasmuch as the TAC had no right or authority to levy the same when it had already been imposed by the State of Uttar Pradesh under section 128(1)(xiv) of the U.P. Municipalities Act; that the TAC did not render any special service to the 'Arhatias' or farmers who came to the town to conduct their business, nor did it incur any expend- iture in this regard; that the charging of weighing dues was discriminatory inasmuch as there were no weighing charges on some articles imported from Jhansi or Moth Tehsil by rail and on rice, salt, jaggery or sugar brought either by road or by rail; that goods coming from villages situate between Chirgaon and Jhansi were not required to pay weighing dues while goods from other places in the State of U.P. were being subjected to the dues; that similar tax had already been imposed by the State Legislature under the Provisions of the U.P. Sales-tax Act under Entries 52 and 54 of List II and there was double taxation by the TAC; that the goods arriving by car have been subjected to the weighing dues while goods arriving by rail from Jhansi and Moth were exempted; that the levy of weighing dues by the Town Area Committee Chirgaon is arbitrary and discriminatory and is grossly violative of Article 14 of the Constitution;