9911796707
TMI Blog1995 (10) TMI 248X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rit Petition No. 653-D of 1963 stands allowed, and equally the demand of advertisement Tax quashed. 2. The appellant is the New Delhi Municipal Committee. In exercise of its powers under the provisions of Sections 188(v) and 199 of the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, the committee appellant, after following the statutory procedure, framed Bye-laws, providing for the control and regulation of advertisements, which inter alia provided as follows : Bye-laws 1 . Every person who erects, exhibits, fixes, paints, carries or retains upon or over any land, building, wall, scores, boarding, structure or vehicle any advertisement within the limits of the New Delhi Municipal Committee and as mentioned in the Chief Commissioner's notification No. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or direction. 3 . The writ-petitioners before the High Court are the respondents herein. The first respondent M/s. Allied Motors Pvt. Ltd. carries on business of sale, purchase and repairs etc. of motor cars, Lambretta Scooters, and truck chasis and also deals in the sale of Burshane Gas. The second respondent is its Managing Director. The third respondent is an Association of Traders having their business place in the territorial area of the Committee. The Respondent No. 1 exhibits eight neon signs boards on its premises, those being : 1. Allied Motors, Private Ltd. Board being of a particular size 2. Perkings Board being of a particular size 3. Perkings 4. R.R. 5. Bedford 6. Lambrett ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s has given rise to this appeal by the Committee as the respondents now stand absolved from payment of tax. 5. Before we garner our minds to discover how certain advertisements are exempted from taxation, it needs to be priory accepted that those would be advertisements, as covered and conceived of by Bye-law 1. If the act attracting taxation does not come within the scope of 'advertisement' within the meaning of Bye-law 1, the question of providing under Bye-law 7 any exemption from payment of tax on exempted advertisements does not arise. But if the act comes within the scope of advertisement, unquestionably and undeniably, then alone can resort be had to Bye-law 7 to discover whether the advertisement is such a one to which an ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n under this item shall apply only to one board displayed by the owner or his agent. 6. Such being the state of Bye-laws, we would be causing violence to the spirit of Clause (a) of Bye-law 7, in splitting the expression name board into two separate words, i.e. name and board and depleting the provision of its intent. Apparently this is a term of art, finding its way to the alleys of law by subordinate legislation. Necessarily, we need to seek help from English dictionaries and cannot go by just impressions. According to The Random House Dictionary of the English language, the expression name board (perhaps hyphenated) means a sign-board that identifies a place or object; it is a name painted, stenciled, etc. on something, as on the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ionaries. And according to those dictionaries, the identifying name so displayed pertains to the place or object not to the name of the trade or the owner. A name-board thus plays the part of the identifier, if the place premises has a name, by display of such name. To demonstrate and clarify it further, we say that if by mens of paint or structural signs an identifying name is engrafted over a building, as an identifying measure, then it is a name board. Because becoming a part of the premises it makes the premises self introductory by name. 7. The case of the respondents being that they use neon-lights to display the names of commodities they sell would fall since those advertisements cannot be called name-boards or even as identifying ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r exemption if relating to the named activities. The respondents succeeded before the Letters Patent Bench of the High Court only on the basis of Clause (a) of Bye-law 7. The bench when called upon by the present appellant to give favourable interpretation to Clause (a) of Bye-laws 7 on the basis of Clause (e) observed that it appears to them that Clause (e) would apply to those advertisements which relate (only) to the trade, profession or business or something more than mere name boards. The respondents herein (the appellants there-at) did not build their case on the evil of Clause (e) of Bye-law 7 and any attempt herein, in the absence of the views of the High Court, would negate proper handling. We would therefore leave the matter at th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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