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TMI Blog1970 (4) TMI 139X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... three commodities were not oil-seeds and that the sales relating to them were wrongly excluded from the turnover. The petitioner has thereupon filed the present writ petition seeking to have the notice quashed. Sri P.A. Choudary, learned counsel for the petitioner, made two submissions. The first submission was that the Commercial Tax Officer was not subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and therefore he was not competent to revise the orders of the Commercial Tax Officer under section 20(2) of the Act. There is no substance in this submission since rule 33-A of the Sales Tax Rules expressly specifies Commercial Tax Officer among the authorities subordinate to the Deputy Commissioner for the purpose of section 20. The second submission of Sri Choudary was as follows: In 1957, on a clarification sought by the Hyderabad Kirana Merchants' Association, the Revenue Board stated that these commodities and some others would be treated as oil-seeds. The petitioner acted upon the representation of the Revenue Board and did not collect any sales tax from the consumers to whom the commodities were sold. The assessment orders also were made on the basis that they were o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Act does not authorise the Board of Revenue or any other authority to issue directions to the assessing authority, except of course when dealing with an appeal or revision, to tax or not to tax any commodity as declared goods or otherwise. If the Board of Revenue or any other authority issues such directions, they would be acting beyond their powers and the assessing authority would be justified in ignoring such instructions. It is for the assessing authority alone to determine in the first instance whether a commodity is "declared goods" or not whenever the question arises before him. That statutory right of the assessing authority cannot be bartered away by any authority. If the Board of Revenue chooses to advise dealers whether a commodity is "declared goods", it is not doing so in pursuance of any authority conferred under the Act. It would be acting entirely outside its statutory powers. If the Board makes any representation to dealers or if it issues any instructions in the matter to assessing authorities then too it would be acting outside the Act. No one is bound by the representation or instructions and if a dealer acts on the representations and so arranges his affairs, h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd as it is but an agent for the Crown it binds the Crown also and as the Crown is bound, so are the other departments, for they also are but agents of the Crown. The War Office letter therefore binds the Crown and through the Crown, it binds the Minister of Pensions. The function of the Minister of Pensions is to administer the Royal Warrant issued by the Crown, and he must so administer it as to honour all assurances given by or on behalf of the Crown." The crux of the answer of Denning, J., lies in the sentences underlined* by us. The Crown was bound by the assurance given by the War Office, an agent of the Crown and the Minister was bound by what bound the Crown since it was the Minister's duty to so administer the Royal Warrant so as to honour all assurances given by or on behalf of the Crown. We doubt very much whether the theory that every department of the Crown is bound by an assurance given on behalf of the Crown can be extended so as to control the discharge of statutory functions in India. The position of the Legislature, the Executive Government, and the officers of the States in India should not be confused with the position of the Crown, its Ministers and its depar ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ty or what variations had been made in them. They had no means of knowing the orders, or, at any rate, they had no sure means, because the Admirality was not bound to publish them. They could only rely on what they were told by the licensing officer. Can it be seriously suggested that, having relied on him, they have been guilty of an offence? In my judgment, there is a principle of law which protects them from such an injustice. It is a principle of particular importance in these days when the officers of Government departments are given much authority by orders and circulars which are not available to the public. The principle is this: Whenever Government officers, in their dealings with a subject, take on themselves to assume authority in a matter with which the subject is concerned he is entitled to rely on their having the authority which they assume. He does not know, and cannot be expected to know, the limits of their authority and he ought not to suffer if they exceed it. That was the principle which I applied in Robertson v. Minister of Pensions[1949] 1 K.B. 227. and it is applicable in the present case also." Denning, L.J., laid emphasis on the fact that an order of the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ted by the earlier resolution, the owners of the factories invoked the jurisdiction of the High Court under article 226 of the Constitution of India to restrain the Municipality from collecting octroi duty from them. According to them on the basis of the assurance and undertaking given by the Municipality earlier they had expanded their activities and commenced manufacture of new products which they would not have done but for the assurance. The Bombay High Court dismissed the writ petition in limine without assigning any reasons. On appeal, their Lordships of the Supreme Court observed that it was only if a claim was frivolous, vexatious or Prima facie unjust, or if it could not appropriately be tried in the exercise of extraordinary jurisdiction that a High Court should refuse to entertain a writ petition. Their Lordships also said that a party claiming to be aggrieved by the action of a public body or authority "on the plea that the action was unlawful, highhanded, arbitrary or unjust" was entitled to a hearing of the petition on merits. Their Lordships thought that the factory owners were Prima facie treated unjustly and, therefore, they were entitled to have their grievance ag ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re and simple. It is possible that the Maharashtra Municipalities Act contains provisions authorising a Municipality to grant exemption to a person or class of persons under certain circumstances. If in exercise of such a power a Municipality grants an exemption for a limited period to a citizen and that citizen takes action on the basis of the exemption, it may be possible to urge that the Municipality is estopped from going back upon the exemption during the period for which it was granted. But, in the present case, the situation is otherwise. The statute prescribes what goods may be taxed at what point. The assessing authority must determine during the assessment proceedings whether the particular goods are taxable. No representation can be made by any one, high or low, whether any goods are taxable. A representation, if made, can bind none. We have dealt at such great length on a question which did not present us any difficulty because we thought that the observations in Century Spinning Manufacturing Company Ltd. v. The Ulhasnagar MunicipalityA.I.R. 1971 S.C. 1021. are likely to mislead, if left unexplained. We may add that we are supported in our conclusion by the followi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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