P.K. Tare, J.

This judgment shall also govern the disposal of Civil Revision. No. 103 of 1958 (Deepchand v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 104 of 1958 (Kanwarlal v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 105 of 1958 (Hasamal v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 106 of 1958 (Khetmal Kochar v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 110 of 1958 (Sewakram v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 111 of 1958(Gendmal Chopra v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 112 of 1956 (Rekchand Lalwani v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli), Civil Revision No. 113 of 1958 (Tejmal v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli) and Civil Revision No. 115 of 1958 (Ishwarlal v. The Municipal Committee, Mungeli).

This revision under Section 25 of the Provincial Small Cause Courts Act is by the Defendant against the judgment and decree passed by Shri R.L. Murab, Second Additional Civil Judge, Bilaspur, empowered under Section 18 of the C.P. Courts Act, in Small Cause Suit No. 114 of 1956 dated 31-12-1957, decreeing the non-applicant's claim for recovery of the balance of octroi duty.

The applicant, a cloth merchant imported some cloth within the municipal limits and paid octroi duty at the rate of Rs.3-2-0 per cent, on the value of the cloth imported.

Later, an audit objection was taken to the effect that the recovery of octroi duty should have been at the rate of Rs.4-11-0 per cent, and not at the rate of Rs.3-2-0 per cent. Therefore, the non-applicant filed the present suit for recovery of the balance of octroi duty, as according to the non-applicant, the audit objection had been confirmed by the Local Government. The same question is involved in the present revisions and, therefore, a common judgment is sufficient to dispose of all the cases.

The question involved is one about interpretation of Items Nos. 42 to 45 of the entries in the schedule of rates prescribed by the octroi rules. The same are published in C.P. and Berar Gazette, Notification No. 70SS-4994-M-XIII, dated 6th December 1948 published at page 1002 of the C.P. and Berar Gazette dated 17th December 1948, part III. They appear under the heading Class VII Textile-fabric including piece goods and articles of clothing or dress and articles made of leather.

Item 42.

Jari cloth (jari of silver or gold)

Its. 4-11-0 per cent.

Item 43.

Other clothes

Rs.3- 2-0 per cent.

Item 44.

Cotton cloth made of hand

Rs.1- 9-0 per cent.

Item 45.

All other kinds of kosa, silk,

Rs.4-11-0 percent.

woolen and mixed with woolen and cotton cloth.

It was urged by the Learned Counsel for the applicant that the word 'clothes' in item No. 43 was a mistake and that the word should have been 'cloths'. The Learned Counsel for the non-applicant Municipal Committee, urged that there was no ambiguity in the entries and that the word 'clothes' could not be interpreted to be 'cloths' on the assumption that it was a mistake.

The Learned Counsel for the applicant pointed out similar entries relating to the octroi schedule of other Municipal Committees in the State; particularly relating to the Champa Municipal Committee, wherein the word used is 'other cloths'. He pointed out that the Mungeli Municipal Committee had resolved to adopt the octroi rules of the Champa Municipal Committee, and therefore, the word 'clothes' appeared to be an obvious mistake. In my opinion, the entries in the schedule of octroi rules of the non-applicant, Committee, cannot be interpreted with reference to similar entries in the octroi rules of other Municipal Committees. That would clearly be opposed to the principles about interpretation of statutes. It may be that the word 'clothes' may have been inadvertently put in item No. 43 of the schedule of octroi rules, or, it might have been deliberately put. However, we are required to interpret the entries without reference to any extraneous considerations.

It is significant to note that item No. 42 mentions Jari cloth, wh