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TMI Blog1970 (2) TMI 135X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Validation) Act 18 of 1964 does not "give legal effect to the imposition of cess at the rate of 4 pies, 7 pies and 9 pies per ton under the notifications" issued by the Independent Mining Local Board on December 22, 1943, July 29, 1946 and July 19, 1947 respectively, "nor to anything done in pursuance of those notifications". The Independent Mining Local Board, Chhindwara, a Board constituted under the Central Provinces Local Self-Government Act 4 of 1920, resolved on March 12, 1935 to levy a cess under S. 51 of the Act at the rate of 3 pies per ton on coal extracted within the area. Sanction of the local Government -was obtained to that levy. On December 22, 1943, the rate was enhanced to 4 pies per ton : it was enhanc ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 43 of the Government of India Act, 1935 and Art. 277 of the Constitution. But the Court declined to allow the petitioners to urge that the increase in the rate of tax by Resolutions in the years 1943, 1946 and 1947 was invalid : Amalgamated Coal-fields Ltd. v. Janapadd Sabha, Chhindwara([1962] 1 S.C.R. 1.). Validity of the enhanced levy was then challenged in petitions died before the High Court of Madhya Pradesh by the Amalgamated Coal-fields Ltd. and Others. In appeals against the order of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh, this Court held that since ieither the Act nor the Rules prescribed a ceiling on the levy, the Expression "first imposition" occurring in S. 51(2) would include ,very increase of the levy after its initial im ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... urisdiction of the said Board", and by s. 2(c) "enactment" is defined as meaning "the Central Provinces Local Self Government Act, 1920 (IV of 1920), or the Central Provinces and Berar Local Government Act, 1948 (No. XXXVIII of' 1948), as the case may be, and rules made thereunder". By S. 3 it is provided "(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any Court, cesses imposed, assessed or collected or purported to have been imposed, assessed or collected by the Board in pursuance of the notifications/notices specified in the Schedule shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be, and to have always been, validly imposed, assessed or collected as if the enactment Under which they we ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... by the Central Provinces Syndicate Ltd. and other producers of coal, by petitions filed in the High Court of Madhya Pradesh. It was claimed by the petitioners that Act 18 of 1964 was "ultra vires and ineffective", and the notices issued pursuant thereto were liable to be quashed. Dixit, C.J., and Pandey, J., who heard the petitions differed. In the view of the learned Chief Justice the Amending Act which purported to amend Act 4 of 1920 by seeking to empower the Mining Board to issue the notifications specified in the Schedule to the Act without reviving the Act of 1920 was ineffective, and that in any event the Act did not validate the levy of coal cess which had been imposed under the three notifications. Pandey, J., expressed a ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 5 (H.L.)) . This Court has also adopted the same rule in Commissioner of Income-tax v. Ajax Products Ltd.( 55 I.T.R. 741 (S.C.)); and Commissioner of Income-tax v. B. M. Kharwar ([1967] 2 S.C.R. 650.) The relevant words which purport to validate the imposition, assessment and collection of cess on coal may be recalled : they are "cesses imposed, assessed or collected by the Board in pursuance of the notifications/notices specified in the Schedule shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be, and to have always been validly imposed, assessed or collected as if the enactment under which they were so issued stood amended at all material times so as-to empower the Board to issue the said notifications notices". Thereby the enactments, i. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... operate to repeal the clause insofar as it applied to other Boards. The nature of the, amendment made in Act 4 of 1920 has. hot been indicated. Nor is there anything which enacts that the notifications issued without the sanction of the State Government must be deemed to have been issued validly under S. 51(2), without the sanction of the-Local Government., On the words used in the Act, it is plain that the Legislature attempted to overrule or set aside the decision of this Court. That, in our judgment, is not open to the Legislature to do under our constitutional scheme. It is open to the Legislature within certain limits to amend the provisions of an Act retrospectively and to. declare what the law shall be deemed to have been, but it i ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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