Judgment

RAY

( 1 ) THE question raised in these petitions is whether the petitioners are liable to pay tax under Bihar Taxation on Passengers and Goods (Carried by Public Service Motor Vehicles) Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as the Bihar Act ).

( 2 ) THE other petitioners raised similar question under Maharashtra Tax on Goods (Carried by Road) Act, 1962: Rajasthan Passengers and Goods Taxation Act, 1959; Madhya Pradesh Motor Vehicles (Taxation on Goods) Act, 1962: Punjab Passengers and Goods Act, 1952; the Gujarat Carriage of Goods Taxation Act, 1962; the Mysore Motor Vehicles (Taxation on Passengers and Goods) Act, 1961.

( 3 ) REFERENCE may be made to the Bihar Act as typical of all the cases covered by these petitions. The pattern of all the Acts is similar.

( 4 ) AT the outset it may be stated that the validity of the Bihar Act was some years back challenged with regard to retrospective operation of the Act. This Court in Civil Appeals Nos. 16 and 17 of 1963 - Rai Ram Krishna v. State of Bihar decided on 11/03/1963 and upheld the retrospective operation of the Bihar Act.

( 5 ) SECTION 3 of the Bihar Act is the charging section. That section provides that on and from the date on which this Act is deemed to have come into force there shall be levied and paid to the State Government a tax on passengers and goods carried by a public service motor vehicle.

( 6 ) THE other two relevant provisions in the Bihar Act are subsections (2) and (3) of the charging Section 3 of the Act. The said subsection (2) provides that every owner shall, in the manner prescribed in Section 9, pay to the State Government, the amount of tax due under Section 3. Sub-section (3) provides that every passenger carried by a public service motor vehicle and every person whose goods are carried by such vehicle shall be liable to pay to the owner the amount of tax payable under Section 3 and every owner shall recover such tax from such passenger or person as the case may be.

( 7 ) WHEN the Act came into force such tax was levied and paid at the rate of twelve and a half per cent of the fares and freights payable to the owner of such vehicle. The rate of tax was raised to twenty per cent under a notification dated 25/05/1973.

( 8 ) THERE is also a provision in the Bihar Act for lump sum payment in lieu of the tax at Rs. 320. 00 per month per vehicle. Formerly, the lump sum was Rs. 160. 00 per month per vehicle with the carrying capacity of the vehicle at 10 metric tons.

( 9 ) SECTION 9 of the Bihar Act speaks of payment and recovery of tax. That section provides that before any owner furnished any return under this Act he shall, in the prescribed manner, pay into the Government Treasury the full amount of tax due from him under this Act according to such return and shall furnish along with the return a receipt from such treasury showing payment of the said amount. Further if any owner fails, without any reasonable cause, to make payment of the tax due from him according to the return furnished under Section 6, the prescribed authority may direct that the owner shall, in addition to that amount of tax payable by him, pay by way of penalty a sum not exceeding five rupees for every day after the expiry of the period prescribed under the said section. The amount of tax and penalty, if any which remains unpaid after the date specified in the notice issued shall be recovered as an arrear of land revenue.

( 10 ) THE provisions in the different Acts in different States are identical to the provisions in the Bihar Act. The only material difference in the Maharashtra, Gujarat and Mysore Acts is that instead of the word "owner" of public vehicle the word used is the "operator" of public vehicle.

( 11 ) THE expression "owner" is defined in the Bihar Act in Sec. 2 (d) thereof as follows :-

"owner" means the owner of a public service motor vehicle in respect of which a permit has been granted by a Regional or State Transport Authority under the provisions of the Motor Vehi