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TMI Blog1952 (7) TMI 20X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the furnace oil which was thus imported by the plaintiffs, from and after 21st May 1946, octroi duty at this rate of annas -/4/- per month. Disputes thereupon arose between the plaintiffs and the defendants, and correspondence ensued between the parties. The plaintiffs claimed that the fuel oil or the furnace oil was imported by them in lieu of charcoal which they used before, and that the defendants were not entitled to charge anything more than six pies per month by way of octroi duty, which was the duty payable on charcoal. The defendants, on the other hand, contended that the fuel oil or the furnace oil which was imported by the plaintiffs fell within the description of oil used for machinery and was, therefore, rightly charged by them with octroi duty at the rate of annas -/4/- per month under Item 73 above referred to. The plaintiff, therefore, ultimately gave a notice to the defendants and their Chief Officer on 2nd May 1947, under Section 206, Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925 setting out therein the cause of action which had accrued to them and their intention to file a suit in default of the defendants making due amends. The defendants failed and neglected to co ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... defendants; that in any event the plaintiffs had failed to give to the defendants the requisite notice under Section 206, Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925, in regard to their further claim after July 31, 1947; and that the plaintiffs' claim for the recovery of any amount beyond six months previous to the institution of the suit was, in any event, barred by limitation by virtue of the provision of Section 206, Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925. The trial Judge negatived the contentions of the defendants in regard to Item 73 of class III of Schedule 'A' to the Rules and By-laws, and held that the defendants were not entitled to levy any octroi duty on the fuel oil or the furnace oil which was imported by the plaintiffs within the jurisdiction of the defendants. He further held that notice under Section 206, Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925, was necessary to be given and that the same had not been given in regard to the further claim of the plaintiffs in regard to the amounts paid by them to the defendants after July 31, 1947. He, however, allowed to the plaintiffs, in the computation of the period of limitation, exclusion of the time which was occupied in p ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... filed the suit against the defendants-Municipality to recover inter alia a sum of ₹ 666-12-0 which represented the amount of certain taxes which had been adjudicated by the Court as an illegal levy. On such an adjudication being made by the Court in another suit at the instance of one of the tax-payers, the plaintiffs had filed the suit, out of which the second appeal arose, to recover the amount on the ground that the tax had been illegally levied. The learned Judge had, before him, this judgment of the Court which had declared the tax as having been illegally levied. An argument had been advanced before him contending that, under Section 206, Bombay Municipal Boroughs Act, 1925, the Act of the Municipality in imposing the tax was one purporting to have been done in pursuance of the Act, and that, therefore, the claim in respect of that act should have been made within six months from the date of the act complained of. A decision of our High Court in Parvateppa v. Hubli Municipality, A. I. R. 1937 Bom. 491 (B) was cited in support of this proposition. But the learned Judge observed that, in his opinion, it was not necessary to decide that point. What the learned Judge app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ul in the sense that they purport to have been done in pursuance of the Act; they are intended to seem to have been done in pursuance of the Act and are done with a vestige or semblance of authority, or sort of a right invested in the party doing those acts. If the defendants, therefore, not having the power to levy octroi duty at all, either wholly or in regard to some classes of goods, had purported to levy the same, it would certainly have been an act which was outrageous and extraordinary, with not a vestige or semblance of authority, or not even a shadow of a right. But we have in Section 73 (iv), Bombay Municipal Borougba Act, 1925, the power given to the defendants to impose octroi duty on articles and goods imported within their jurisdiction. We have also the various items, of class III of Schedule 'A' to the Octroi Rules and By-laws which have been framed by the defendants with the sanction of the Government, and we have Item 73 in that class III of Schedule 'A' which comprises various articles including oils used for machinery. If the defendants, in the interpretation which they gave to the words oils, used for machinery , did something which ultimatel ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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