A party who has received advantage under a void contract is bound to pay compensation to the other party under Section 65 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872.

K. N. SETH, J.:- The Town Area Committee, Moth, filed a suit against the respondents for recovery of Rs. 23,677.50 which comprised of the balance of the contract money and interest thereon at six per cent. The case set up by the plaintiff was that since long the Town Area has been auctioning the right to realise weighing dues; that for the year 1962-63 the right to realise weighing dues in the Town Area was auctioned on 18-3-1962 in favour of the defendants who made the highest bid of Rs. 42,000/- the bid was accepted by the Town Area and was approved by the Collector, Jhansi; that the defendants started realising the weighing dues but did not execute any formal agreement; that they paid Rs. 21,500/- towards the contract; that the plaintiff had no obligation to help defendants in realisation of the dues but still it extended help and assistance from time to time; and that in spite of repeated demands the defendants failed to pay the balance due and hence the suit.

2. The defendants pleaded that the Town Area levied the weighing dues in 1933 and it was a tax imposed under the Market Bye-Laws. Since it was a tax it could not be validy imposed by means of a bye-law and could not be legally assigned or transferred by way of Theka and the contract being opposed to public policy was invalid and unenforceable in law. It was also pleaded that no completed and valid contract between the parties came into existence. It was further pleaded that the plaintiff committed a breach of the contract by not extending its help in realising the weighing dues and, therefore, the plaintiff was not entitled to realise the balance of the contract money. The claim for interest was also challenged. The suit was also said to be barred by time.

3. The trial court rejected the plea that the plaintiff committed a breach of the contract by not extending assistance in recovery of the dues from the shopkeepers on the finding that under the terms of the auction sale the Town Area was not required to assist the defendants in realising the weighing dues from the shop-keepers. The court further rejected the defendants plea that no completed contract had come into existence. The suit was, however, dismissed on the ground that the plaintiff Town Area was not competent to impose the weighing dues as it amounted to a tax and consequently it could not give a contract for the recovery of the weighing dues. The contract between the parties was held to be void. The learned Judge further held that the claim for the second instalment of Rs. 10,500/- was barred by time. The plaintiff was also held not entitled to interest.

4. Sri G. P. Bhargava, learned counsel for the appellant, contended that the view taken by the court below that imposition of weighing dues under a bye-law was invalid was not sound. Reliance was placed on the decision of a learned single Judge of this Court in Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 2392 of 1962, Firm Sri Narain Vijai Narain v. Town Area Committee Chirgaon, decided oh 29-4-1963 which was affirmed by a Bench of this Court of which one of us was a member in Sri Narain Vijai Narain v. Town Area Committee Chirgaon (1972 All. L.J. 268). In that case an exactly similar bye-law framed by the Town Area Committee Chirgaon, was held to be valid. Reference was also made to the decision of a learned single Judge of this Court in Civil Misc. Writ No. 3199 of 1968, Battoo Lal Neckhra v. Town Area Committee, Moth, decided on 3-9-1970 in which the validity of the imposition of weighing dues by the present Town Area was sought to be challenged. The Court upheld the validity of the imposition and dismissed the writ petition. Relying on the aforesaid decisions it was urged that not only the imposition of the weighing dues was valid but its collection through a Thekedar was also valid inasmuch as the Town Area could either realise the dues through its own Officers or could appoint an agent for that purpose. In adopting the method of realising the weighing dues