JUDGMENT

Raju, J.-These appeals involve for consideration an interesting question as to the nature and character of the levy of Dharmada , as it is called in the form of an octroi by the Municipal Council, Kota in Rajasthan State, which, according to respondents, is not really an octroi, but the levy and demand of "dharmada tax as such on the goods imported by the respective respondent-companies into the municipal limits of Kota. It is necessary to trace the origin of this levy in this part of the State of Rajasthan.

2. From the records and materials placed before us, it transpires that in 1860 A.D. the late Ruler of Kota, claimed to be the Sovereign Authority to make even laws, imposed, though on the basis of also a volition expressed by the traders in the locality to pay one, such, the levy of dharmada on the traders of Nandgaon (the ancient name of Kota city), as a compulsory levy by the authority of the said law made by the Ruler. The Schedule of rates of dharmada, so imposed, was said to have continued till 1894 when it came to be sanctioned also by the Resolution dated 6.11.1894 of the Municipality Committee. This seems to have in succession followed by another Schedule of