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TMI Blog1988 (8) TMI 392X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or exhibition only did not attract the mischief of the aforesaid provision of the Act, but having failed to convince the municipal authorities has filed the present writ application. 3.. Section 131 authorises the Municipal Council to impose various taxes, and clause (kk) of sub-section (1) authorises the Council to impose octroi and reads as follows: "(kk) an octroi on goods brought within the limits of a municipality for consumption, use or sale therein". (emphasis* supplied) This power is derived from entry 52 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. 4.. There is no difficulty in construing the expressions "consumption" and "sale" of any goods. But the expression "use" which is sandwiched between the above two expressions, namely, "consumption" and "sale" is susceptible to a varied interpretation. 5.. The Division Bench considered some decisions and came to the conclusion that "films are brought within the local limits for their use within such limits and thereafter taken out therefrom". To put it more explicitly, the court took the view that the exhibition of films in the cinema halls was a mode of their user within the meaning of clause (kk) and ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... raph 19 that: "........The word 'consumption' in its primary sense means the act of consuming and in ordinary parlance means the use of an article in a way which destroys, wastes or uses up that article. But in some legal contexts, the word 'consumption' has a wider meaning. It is not necessary that by the act of consumption the commodity must be destroyed or used up. " The Supreme Court in paragraph 20 also noticed the word "use" and observed: "........There may be certain commodities which though put to use are not 'used up' in the process. A motor car brought into an area for use is not used up in the same sense as food-stuffs. The two expressions 'use' and 'consumption' together therefore, connote the bringing in of goods and animals not with a view to taking them out again but with a view to their retention either for use without using them up or for consumption in a manner which destroys, wastes, or uses them up. In this context, the word 'consumption', as has been shown above, must receive a larger meaning than merely the act of consuming in the generally understood sense." 8.. The other decision noticed by the Division Bench in the earlier case was also pressed into s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e of Hiralal Thakorlal v. Broach Municipality AIR 1976 SC 1446. This decision is again of no assistance at all as it simply reiterated the principle enunciated in BurmahShell Company's case AIR 1963 SC 906. I may also refer to a few other superfluous decisions cited by Mr. Misra, namely, Kirloskar Electric Co. Ltd. v. Corporation of the City of Bangalore [1975] 1 Kar LJ 233 and Municipal Council, Pandhurna v. R.P. Dube AIR 1969 MP 1 (FB). In [1975] 1 Kar LJ 233 (Kirloskar Electric Co. Ltd. v. Corporation of the City of Bangalore), the learned Judge distinguished the decision in AIR 1969 Guj 344 (Jafarabad Municipality v. Kathiawar Industries Ltd.) and held, if I may say so, rightly that the machineries brought into the limits of the Corporation of Bangalore for the mere purpose of repair were not liable to octroi. In AIR 1969 MP 1 [FB] (Municipal Council, Pandhurna v. R.P. Dube), the dispute was as to whether octroi duty was leviable by the Municipal Council on a bus passing through the octroi limits for the purpose of loading and unloading passengers in the course of transit. It was held that under section 66(1)(e) of the relevant Act and the Rules, "the goods must come to r ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Kathiawar Industries Ltd.) has delved deep to construe the expression "use" and again I may usefully utilise the labour put in by the learned Judges in that case. According to the dictionary meanings, the word "use" is generally meant to convey the meaning "to employ for, or to apply to a given purpose ". In a taxing provision, the expression has to be noticed in the matter of its context. Although the expression "consumption" in its wider sense would also be an "user", but since the taxing provision has used the word "use" along with the word "consumption", it is reasonable to hold that the legislature contemplated in the word "use", "the user" of any goods in a sense other than "consumption". In order to bring home this point, the decision has given the illustration of the user of steel furniture, precious stones and ornaments, a motor car and thereafter made a very apt observation with which I respectfully agree, that "although a change in the article would be indicative of 'use', there may be user also without any noticeable change as in the instances mentioned earlier. Whether or not there would be a change in the article would depend upon the nature of the article and the p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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