Judgment

AYYANGAR, J . : Section 143 (2) of the Government of India Act, 1935, enacted :

"143 (2). Any taxes, duties, cesses or fees which, immediately before the commencement of Part III of this Act, were being lawfully levied by any Provincial Government, municipality or other local authority or body for the purposes of the Province, municipality, district or other local area under a law in force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, may, notwithstanding that those taxes, duties, cesses or fees are mentioned in the Federal Legislative List, continue to be levied and to be applied to the same purposes until provision to the contrary is made by the Federal Legislature."

The precise import, significance and effect of the words "continue to be levied and to be applied to the same purposes until provision to the contrary is made by the Federal Legislature" is the common question which arises in these four appeals which come before us by virtue of certificates under Art.132 of the Constitution granted by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Nagpur.

(2) Section 51 of the Central Provinces and Berar Local Self-Government Act, 1920, enacted :

"51(1) Subject to the provisions of any law or enactment for the time being in force, a District Council may, by a resolution passed by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members present at a special meeting convened for the purpose, impose any tax, toll or rate other than those specified in Ss. 24, 48, 49 and 50.

(2) ...........................................

(3) ...........................................

By virtue of the power thus conferred the District Council of Bhandara which was "a local authority" constituted under this Act of 1920 imposed a tax on the export of bidis and bidi-leaves by rail out of the Bhandara district by a resolution dated May 14, 1925, as amended by another dated April 18, 1926. The tax was at the rate of 4 annas per maund on bidis and 2 annas per maund on bidi, leaves. The Local Government framed rules for the collection of the tax under S. 79 of the Act of 1920 and the said tax was being collected by this local authority on April 1, 1937, when Part III of the Government of India Act came into force. It is now common ground that the tax thus levied and collected was " a terminal tax on goods carried by railway" covered by entry 58 in the Federal Legislative List - List I- in the Seventh Schedule to the Government of India Act of 1935. The result of this tax being in the Federal Legislative List, it is manifest, is that the Provincial Legislature could not thereafter freshly impose such a tax under its legislative power. By reason of the provision however of S. 143 (2) of the Government of India Act,1935, extracted earlier, the local authority continued to retain the authority to levy and collect the said tax and the tax continued to be collected by the District Council even after April 1,1937, when Part III of the Government of India Act came into force. While so, the Central Provinces and Berar Local Self- Government Act, 1920, was repealed and was replaced by the Central Provinces and Berar Local Government Act, 1948, which came into force on June 11, 1948. District Councils which were the units of local government administration under the Act of 1920 were replaced by Janpads which comprised smaller areas and as a result the area which was under the jurisdiction of the District Council of Bhandara under the Local Self-Government Act of 1920 came to be constituted into three Janpads, viz,, those of Gondia, Bhandara and Sakoli-these being the three Tahsils comprised in the district and the three Janpads were administered by three Janpad Sabhas formed under the Act of 1948. There were provisions in the later enactment providing for continuity in the powers to be exercised by the District Councils whom the former replaced. But what is of relevance to the points arising in the present appeals are those contained in S. 192 of the Act of 1948