Holding

The Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969, is invalid; it is not a valid validating act and its retrospective tax increase is arbitrary and unconstitutional.

Summary

The appellants, excise contractors licensed to sell arrack, challenged the State of Mysore's collection of sales tax on the total price of arrack, which included excise duty and cesses. The Mysore High Court held that sales tax could not be levied on excise duty, health cess or education cess and ordered a refund of the excess tax collected. To avoid this liability, the State enacted the Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969, which raised the sales‑tax rate from 6½% to 45% with retrospective effect from 1 April 1966 and declared the High Court judgment null and void. The appellants contended that the amendment was not a genuine "validating act" because it did not cure the defect (the illegality of taxing excise duty) but merely increased the rate to retain the wrongly collected tax. The Supreme Court held that the amendment was arbitrary, unreasonable and unconstitutional, as it failed to remove the statutory defect and could not retrospectively impose a higher tax without proper justification. Consequently, Sections 2 and 3 of the amendment were struck down and the appeals were allowed.

Issues considered

The Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969, whether it qualifies as a valid "validating act" under the Constitution.
Whether a retrospective increase in the sales‑tax rate from 6½% to 45% to avoid refund liability is constitutionally permissible.
Whether the amendment, which does not cure the defect of taxing excise duty, can be upheld.

Legislation cited

Constitution of Indias. Art.133(1)
Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957s. Second Schedule, Column 3, Serial No. 39
Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969s. S.1, s. S.2, s. S.3, s. S.4

Subjects

Sales taxRetrospective taxationValidating actConstitutional lawArbitrarinessExcise dutyArrackTax amendmentRefund liabilityLegislative powerJudicial review

Judgment

- 82S

A

D. CAWASJI AND CO. MYSORE

v.

THE STATE OF MYSORE AND ANR.
B
Stptember 26, 1984

(P.N. BHAOWATI, AMARENDRA NATH SEN AND RANOANATH
MISRA, JJ.)
a
Mysore. Sales Tax Act 1957, Mysore Act 25 of 1957-Second Schedule
· Columfl No.3 Serial No. 39-Provision whether conJtilutionally valid.

Arrack-Sale by Government to licensed contractors-Recovery of sales tax
at 6 If 2% on total amount of selling price-High Court holding provi1ion void and
that sales tax can be collected only on basic price excluding exci1e duty-Amend- D
ment introduced by the Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act 1969-Rate of tax
enhanced to 45% with retrospective effect from April I, 1969-Va/idity of
amendment.

Interpretation of Statutes: Amending Act and Validating Act-Difference
between-Explained.
E
The appellants were Excise Contractors who had secured the excise privilege
of retail sate of Toddy, Arrack or Special Liquor. The State Government had
the monopoly of the first sale of Arrack which is country liquor other than
Toddy. The manufacture of Arrack by distillation is done in the State under
State control and the entire quantity manufactured in the State is sold to the
State Government which in its turn supplies it to the bonded depots in Taluks. F

Under the Mysore Excise Act, Arrack is liable to excise duty at rates pre-
scribed by the Government. The State does not collect excise duty from the
distillers. From the distillery arrack is transferred to Bonded Depots and
excise duty together with cesses thereon is collected from the contractors who
are given the privilege or right to effect retail sales of Arrack. G

The exclusive privilege of retail vending of Arrack for each excise year
which commences on the first day of July and ends on 30th June of the follow.
ing year is sold by the State by auction. Under the terms and conditions
governing the Jicenses, granted to the contractor whose bid is accepted and to
whom the licenses for vending arrack is granted, the licensees were required to
deposit in the State Treasury under separate heads of account the safoi t:it
payable to the Stgte Government and the excise duty with cesses. H
)-

826 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] l S.C.R.
However, with effect from J. 4. 1966 the State Government started collect-
A ing saJes tax computed on the sale price of Arrack together with excise duty
and cesses payable thereon. So con1puted sales tax came to about 24 Paise a
litre which was collected alongwith the price of Arrack sold to the licensees.

The validity of the collection of the sales tax on the aforesaid basis was
challenged by the appellants. A Division Bench of the High Court allowed
B the writ petition, D. Cawasji and Co. Mysore v. State of Mysore 1969.(l) Mys.
L.J. 461, holding that the State Government could not under s.19 of the Sales
Tax Act, collect sales tax on excise duty which is not a part of the selling price
of Arrack. The appeal preferred by the State Government to this Court was
withdrawn.

C During the pendency of the appeal the privileges o.f vending liquor in the
excise year 1968.69 were sold without any variation in the price of Arrack fixed
by the Government during the previous year at 55 paise a litre. During the
year 1968·69 the State Government collected safes tax computing the same
@ 6.1{2% of the actual safe price without !including therein excise duty
and cess.

D
As the liability of the States to refund the amount collected as sales tax F
l~
in excess amounted to lacs of Rupees, and with the object of avoiding the
liability of refund by the State Government of the excess amount so collected,
the State passed Ordinance No. 3 of 1969 on 17th July, 1969 which was replaced
by the Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969 on 19th July, 1969.

Th• validity of this Amending Act was challenged by the appellants on the
ground that the Amending Act was unreasonable and arbitrary but the High
Court dismissed the writ petition.

In the appeal to this Court, it was contended on behalf of the appellant that
.-
the Amending Act does not seek to rectify or remove the defect or lacuna on
the basis of which the collection of the excess saJcs tax had been set aside by
F the High Court, and that the increase in the rate of sales tax from 6f % to
4.5% with retrospective effect is clearly arbitrary and unreasonable for if, any
particular provision of the statute is for some lacuna or defect in the statute
declared unconstitutional or invalid, it is open to the Legislature to pass a I
Validating Act with retrospective effect so that the State may not be saddled
with liability of refund or other consequences which 1nay arise as a result of
G the particular provision being declared invalid.

On behalf of the respondent-State it was co11tended that by the enactment
of S.2 of the impugned Act the very basis of the complaint made by the
appellants in the earlier writ petitions that the State was collecting amounts by
way of tax in excess of what was authorised under the Act had been removed.

H• Allowing the Appeals,
D. CAWASJI V, STATE OF MYSORE 827

HELD : 1. The only object of enacting the amended provision it appears A
is to nullify the effect of the judgment which became conclusive and binding on
the parties to enable the State Government to retain the amount wrongfully and
illegally co11ected as sales tax and this object has been sought to be achieved
by the impugned amendment which does not even purport or seek to remedy
or remove the defect and lacuna but merely raises the rate of duty from 6.I /2%
to 45% and further proceeds to nullify the judgment and order of the High
Court. [841E-F] B

2. The enhancement of the rate of duty from 6.1/2% to 45% with retros-.
pective effect is in the facts and circumstances of the case clearly arbitrary and
unreasonable. The defect or lacuna is not even sought to be remedied and the
only justification for the steep rise in the rate of duty by the amended provision
is to nullify the effect of the binding judgment. [841 Fl
G

3. The vice of illegal collection in the absence of the removal of the illega~
lity which led to the invalidation of the earlier assessments on the basis of
illegal levy, continues to taint the earlier levy. This is not a proper ground for
hiposing the levy at the higher rate with retrospective effect. (8410]
D
4. It may be open to the Legislature to impose the levy at the higher rate
with prospective operation but levy of taxation at higher rate whieh really
amounts to imposition of tax with retrospective effect has to be justified on
proper and cogent grounds. [841H]

S. The amendment does not proceed to cure the defect or the lacuna by
E
bringing in an amendment providing for exigibility of sales tax on excise duty,

- . health cess and ~ducation cess. The impugned Amending Act cannot therefore
be considered to be a Validating Act. A Validating Act seeks to validate the
earlier Acts declared illegal and unconstitutional by Courts by removing the
defect or lacuna which led to invalidation of the law. With the removal of the
defect or lacuna resulting in the validation of any Act held invalid by a com-
petent Court, the Act may become valid if the Validating Act is lawfully" enacted. F
To provide that no liability may be imposed on the State in respect of acts done
before the passing of the Validating Act making such act valid, a Validating
Act is usually passed with retrospective effect. The retrospective operation
relieves the State of the consequences of acts done prior to the passing of the
Validating Act. The retrospective operation of a Validating -Act properly
passed curing the defects and lacuna which might have led to the invalidity of
any act done may be upheld, if considered reasonable and legitimate. [840E-Al G

In the instant case, the State instead of remedying the defect or removing
the lacuna has by the impugned amendment sought to raise the rate of tax from
6.1/2% to 45% with retrospective effect from the 1st April 1966 to avoid the
liability of refunding the excess amount collected and has further purported to
nullify the judgment and order passed by the High Court directing the refund
of tile excess amount illegally collected by providin~ that the levy at the higher ff
828 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] 1 s.c.R.

rate of 45%. wil( have retrospective effect from !st of April 1966. The judgment
A of the H;.gh Court dCclaring the levy of sales tax on excise duty, education cess
and health cess to be bad became conclusive and was binding on the parties.
It may or may not have been competent for the State Legislature to validly
remove the lacuna and remedy the defect in the earlier levy by seeking to impose
sales tax through any amendment on excise duty, education CCS! and health ccss
but in any event, the State Govcrnn1ent has not purported to do so through
the Amending Act. l84IA·D]
B
D. Cawasjl & Co. Mysore v. State of Mysore, 1969 (1) Mys.L.J, 461, D.
Cawa,ji & Co. and Others v. The State uf Mysore, 1968 (16) L.R. 641, Janapada
Sabha, Chindwara -etc. v. The Central Provinct!s Syndicate Ltd., [1970] 3 SCR
745, Muni'cipal Corporation of the City of Ahmedabad v. Nt~W Shorock Spq. and
Wvg. & Co. Ltd. etc., [1971] 1 SCR 288 and Shri Prithl Cotton Mills Ltd. and
c Anr. v. The Broach Borough Municipality and Ors.. [1970] 1 SCR 388,
referred to.

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeal Nos. 1353 &
1354 of 1973.

D Appeals from the Judgment and Orde.r dated the 6th
December, 1972 of the Mysore High Court in Writ Petitions Nos.
3964 & 3996/1970.
S.T. Desai, D.N. Mishra and Mrs. Verma for the Appellants.

E M. Veerappa for the Respondents.
The Judgment of the Conrt was delivered by

1 AMARENDRA NATH SEN, J. The question of constitutional
\ -
validity of the Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1969 (Mysore
Act of 1969), (hereinafter referred to as the Act) falls for determi-
F nation in these two appeals preferred by the appellants with certi-
ficate granted by the High Court under Art. 133(1) of the Con-
sititution.
The question arises under the following circumstances:
The appellants are Excise Contractors who had secured excise
G
privilege of retail sale of Toddy, Arrack or Special Liquor. The
State Government has the monopoly of the fimt sale of Arrack
which is country liquor other than Toddy. The manufacture of
Arrack by distillation is done in the State under State control and
the entire quantity manufactured by distillation in the State is sold
to the State Government which in its turn supplies Arrack to bonded
H depots in Taluks. Under the Mysore Excise Act Arrack is liable
b. CAWASJi v. MYSORE (A.N. Sen, i.) 829
•
to excise duty at the rates prescribed by the Government. The A
State does not collect excise duty from the distillers. From the
distillery arrack is transferred to Bonded Depots and excise duty
together with cesses thereon is collected from the contractors who
arc given the privilege or right to effect retail sales of Arrack. The
exclusive privilege of retail vending of Arrack for each excise year
which commences on the first day of July and ends on 30th June of B
the following year, is sold by the State by auction. The successful
bidders whose bids are accepted .are granted licences for the
exclusive privilege of retail ve1\ding. The retail selling price of
Arrack by the licensees is fixed by the State Government at or be-
fore the time of notifying sales of the exclusive privilege in respect
of each year. The excise duty of arrack together with cesses there- c
on is collected from the licensees before the date of delivery. Under
the terms and conditions governing the licensees, granted to the
contractors whose bid is accepted and to whom the license for
exclusive privilege of vending arrack is granted, the licensees were
required to deposit in the State Treasury under separate heads of
account the sales tax payable to the State Government and the D
excise duty with cesses. There was no dispute as to the amount of
sales tax payable by the licensees upto .1.4.1966. However, with
effect from 1.4.1966, the State Government started collecting sales
tax computed on the sale price of Arrack together with excise duty
and cesses payable thereon. So computed sales tax came to about
24 paise a litre which was collected alongwith the price of Arrack E
sold to the licensees.

Challenging the validity of the collection of the sales tax on
the aforesaid basis the appellant filed a writ petition !_in the High
Coutt of Mysore at Bangalore being writ petition No. 644 of 1966.
F
As this writ petition No. 644 of 1966. related to the excise year
1966-67 only, the appellant filed two other writ petitions being writ
petitions nos. 1012 and 1013 both of 1966 for snbsequent excise
years. These three writ petitions of the appellant along with
similar writ petitions filed by other contractors were disposed of by
a common judgment by a division Bench of the Mysore High Court
G
011 12th July, 1968. The Mysore High Court for reasons recorded
in the judgment held :

"We allow the rest of the petitioners only to the
extent of holding that the State Government is not ent.itled
H
830 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1P85j i s.c.il.

A to collect from the petitioners any amount by way of Sales
Tax on the following, viz., Excise Duty, Health Cess and
Education Cess imposed on arrack or special liquor. In
the said petitions, we hereby issue writs directing the
State Government to forbear from collecting from the
petitioners any amount representing Sales Tax on the
ll following viz. Excise Duty, Health Cess and Education
Cess imposed on arrack or special liquor, and to refund to
the petitioners any amount that might have beeu collected
from them, by way of Sales Tax on items of Excise Duty,
Health Cess and Education Cess on arrack or special
Liquor."

The Division Bench in the course of the Judgment in
D. Cawasji & Co. Mysore v. State of Mysore('), observed at p.
483 :-

"It is difficult to see how Excise Duty paid, not by the seller
D
but by the purchaser, to the State Government, can become
a part of the price at which the goods are sold by that
seller to that purchaser. If that is the true position, we
think the State Government cannot, under S.19 or the
Sales Tax Act, collect· Sales Tax on Excise Duty which is
E not a part of its selling price."

Against the judgment of the Mysore Court the State preferred ~·-'
an appeal to the Supreme Court ; but the appeal was subsequently
withdrawn. It appears that during the pend ency of the appeal the
privileges_ of vending liquor in the excise year 1968-69 were sold
F without any variation in the price of Arrack fixed by the Govern·
ment during the previous year at 55 paise a litre. During the year
1968-69 the State Government collected Sales Tax computing the
same @ 6t% of the actual sale price without including therein
excise duty and cess.
•
G
It may be noticed that although the appellants had obtained an
order of stay of payment of the disputed sales tax amounts from
-
27.4.1966 from the High Court, there were vari•)US other contractors
who had paid the same computed on the :>ale price of Arrack
together with excise duty and the cess. When the decision of the

ff (I) 1969 (I) Mys. L.J. 4f
I>. CAWASJI v. MYSORE (A. N. Sen, J.) 831

High Court pronouncing the illegality of the levy and collection
A
of sales tax on the price of Arrack, including in the price the excise
duty and cess, became final and conclusive in consequence of the
withdrawal of the appeal filed by the State in this Court against the
said judgment and decision of the High Court, the State Govern-
ment became liable to refund the excess amount of sales tax collected
to the licensees and contractors. It appears that the liability of the B
State to refund the amount collected as sales tax in excess amounted
to lacs of Rupees. Faced with this situation and with the object of
avioding the liability of refund by the State Government of the
excess amount so collected, the Governor of the State passed
Ordinance No. 3 of 1969 on 17th July, 1969. The Ordinance w'as
replaced by the impugned Act which came into force on 19th July, c
1969.

It will be convenient at this stage to set out the provisions of
the Act, which is a short one consisting of four sections, in its
entirety. The Act provides as follows :-
D
S.1 (I). This Act may be called the Mysore Sales Tax
(Amendment) Act, 1969.

(2). It shall be deemed to have come into force on the
nineteenth day of July, 1969.
E

- S.2. In the Second Schedule to the Mysore Sales Tax
Act, 1957 (Mysore Act 25 of 1957) iri Column 3 of SI. No. 39
for the words "Six and a half per cent", the words "Forty-
five per cent'', shall be and shall be deemed to have been
substituted with effect from the first day of April, 1966.
"
F
S.3. Notwithstanding anything contained in any
judgment, decree or order of any court or other authority,
the sales tax on country liquor other than toddy levied or
collected or purported to have been levied or collected
shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be and to have
-r always been validly levied or collected in accordance G
with law, as if this Act had been in force at all material
times when such tax was levied or collected and accor-
dingly-
(a) all acts, proceedings or things done or taken by any
832 StiPREME COURT REPORTS [1985) I S.C.il.

A authority or officer or person in connection with the
levy or collection of such tax, shall, for all purposes,
be deemed to be and to have always been done or
taken in accordance with law ;

(b) no· suit or proceeding shall be entertained, main-
tained or continued in any court for the refund of
B
any tax as paid ; and

(c) no court shall enforce any decree or order directing
the refund of any tax so paid.

S.4-The Mysore Sales Tax (Amendment) Ordinance,
c 1969 (Mysore Ordinance No. 3 of 1969) is hereby
repealed.

The Statement of objects and Reasons for the passing of
the amendment may appropriately be set out at this stage. The
Statement of Objects and Reasons runs as. foliows : -
0
"Clause (j) of sub-rule (4) of Rule 6 of the Mysore Sales
Tax Rules, 1957, provided for the exclusion of excise duty paid by
a dealer from the computation of his taxable turnover. By Go-
vernment Notification No. GSR 882, dated 16th March, 1966,
this clause was deleted from the rules with the object of recover-
E
ing sales tax even on the excise duty portion of the turnover of
dealers. In respect of arrack which falls under entry relating
to SL No. 39 of the Schedule, sales are made by Government
to licensed contractors and sales tax was recovered from
them at 6 1/2''!,, on the total amount payable by them including
the excise duty from !st April, 1966. The Mysore High Court 1
in W.P. No. 644 of 1966 D. CawasJi & Co. and Others v. Tile
0
F State 0/ Mysore,(lJ held that on the sales of arrack, the sales tax can-
not be collected on the total amount but has to be collected
only on the basic price excluding excise duty on the ground that
the duty in such a case docs not form part of the sale price but is a
separate "levy" made by the Government at the time of relea-
sing the stocks from the Government Bonded warehouses. Con-
G sequently, a considerable amount already recovered may become
refundable. In order to get over the effects of the High Court

H (I) !968 (16) L.R. 641
b. CAWASJi v. Mi>solUI (A.N. Sen, i.) 833

decision and retain the money already recovered by the Govern A
ment, it is proposed to enhance the rate of tax on arrak to 45%
with retrospective effect from Jst April, 1966. The enchanced rate
of tax on the basic price would be absorbed in the price already
recovered, and no additional tax is expected to be realised from
this Bill. Since the Legislature was not in session and in view of
the urgency, an ordinance was promulgated. The Bill is to replace B
the ordinance."

The validity of this Amending Act has been challenged on
the ground that the Amending Act is unreasonable and arbitrary.
The principal contention raised on behalf of the appellant is that
the Amending Act does not seek to rectify or remove the defect or c
lacuna on the basis of which the colletion of the excess sales tax
had been set aside by the High Court. It is argued by the
learned counsel for the appellant that the High Court had held
that the sales tax could not be levied on collected on Excise duty
Health ccss and Education cess imposed on Arrack or special 0
liquor and had directed the refund of the amount collected on
excise duty and cess which were included in the selling price of
arrack. The learned counsel has submitted that by the amendment
the &aid lacuna or defect of including the excise duty and cess in
the price of Arrack on which the sales tax has been charged has
not been sought to be removed, as this defect or difficulty could E
not possibly have been removed, because sales tax could not be
levied on excise duty by virtue of the judgment of the High Court.
" •. The learned counsel points out that the appeal which was filed by
the State Government against the judgment of the High Court had
been withdrawn by the State and as such the judgment of the High
Court has become final and conclusive and on the basis of the F
judgment, a large amount has become refundable by the State to
the appellants. It is the submission of the learned counsel that the,
amendment has been brought about only for the purpose of cir-
cumventing the judgment of the High Court with the object of
avoiding the liability to refund the amount wrongfully and illegally
collected as sales tax from the appellant by raising the amount of G
tax from 6 1/2% to 45%. The learned counsel contends that the in"
crease in the rate of sales tax from 6 1/2% to 45% with retrospective
effect is clearly arbitrary and unreasonable. It is the contention
of the learned counsel that if any particular provision of the sta- -
tute is for some lacuna or defect in the statute declared unconsti-
ff
SUPREME COURT REPORTS [1985] i s.c.R.

tutional or invalid, it is open to the legislature to pass a Valida-
A ting Act with retrospective effect so that the State may not be
saddled with liability of refund or other consequences which may
arise as a result of the particular provision being declared invalid.
The learned counsel argues that such a Validating Act with retros-
pective operation can be passed if the lucuna or the defect, be-
B
cause of which the provision is declared to be unconstitutional and
invalid, be properly rectified by the Amending Act which seeks to
validate the statutory provision which has been struck down as
unconstitutional and invalid. It is his argument that without
seeking to remove or rectify the defect or lacuna, no Validation
can be made to defeat the judgment of the Court striking down
0 any particular statutory provision. The learned counsel contends
that enhancing the rate of tax from 6 1/2% to 45% with retros-
pective effect must nece5sarily be held to be arbitrary. It is his
contention that mere enhancement of the rate without seeking to
validate the provision by removing or rectifying the defect or
lacuna clearly results in retrospective imposition of tax and any
D such imposition of tax with retrospective effect must be held to be
unreasonable and arbitrary. In support of the submissions
made, particular reliance has been placed on the two decisions of
this Court in the case of Janapada Sabha, Chindwara etc, v. The
Centro/ Provinces Syndicate Ltdl1). and Municipal Corporation of
the City of Ahemdabad v. New Shorock Spg. & Wvg. Co. Ltd. etc.(')
E
The material facts in the case of Janapada Sabha, Chindwara
(supra) may briefly be indicated. . "

In 1935, the Independent Mining Local Board, Chindwara,
constituted under C.P. Local Self Government Act, 1920, resolved
F
to levy a cess on coal extracted within the area at 3 pies per ton.
The sanction of the Local Government, as required by S.51 (2) of
Act, was obtained for the levy. ln 1943, the llevy was enhanced to
4 pies, in 1946 to 7 pies and in 1947 to 9 pies. The validity of the
enhanced levy was challenged and this Court, in appeal, held that the
increased levy would also require the previous sanction of the Local
G Government and such sanction not having been obtained, the levy
at a rate higher than 3 pies was illegal. The State Legislature
thereafter enacted the Madhya Pradesh Koyala Upkar (Manyata

(1) [1970] 3 S.C.R 745.
H (2) [1971) 1 S.C.R. 288.
b. CAWASJi v. MYSORE (A .N. Sen, J.)

karan) Adhinayam, 1964. Section 3(1) provides that 'notwithstanding
a judgment of any Court, cesses imposed, assessed or collected by
the Board in pursuance of the notifications and notices specified in
the Schedule shalJ, 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 issued stood amended at material times so B
as to empower the Board to issue the said notifications. In the
Schedule were specified the three notifications enhancing the rate
of cess. On the question· whether the enhanced levy was validated
by the 1964 Act, a five Judge Bench of this Court held that it did
not give legal effect to the imposition of cess at the enhanced rate.
This Court observed at p. 751: c
"The nature of the amendment made in Act 4 of 1920
has not 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 0
Government. On the words used in the Act, it is p1ain 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 is not
-, open to the Legislature to say that a judgment of a Court
properly constituted and rendered in exercise of its powers
in a matter brought before it shall be deemed to be
ineffective and the interpretation of the law shall be
' otherwise than as declared by the Court."

In the Municipal Corporation of the City of Ahrnedabad etc. v.
New Shorock Spg. & Wvg. Co. Ltd. etc. (supra) the appellant
corporation assessed the immovable properties of the respondents to
property-tax for the year 1964-65 and 1965-66 on the basis of the G
'flat rate' method under the Bombay Provincial Municipal Act. 1949.
The assessments were chalJenged in the High Court but the petitions
were dismissed. While appeals ·were pending in this Court, the
Municipal Corporation, initiated proceedings for the recovery of the
taxes and attached the properties of the assessees. The assessees
challenged the attachment proceedings but their petitions were ff
8:i6 SUPREME couR.r REPORTS [1985] i s.c.ft.
A
again dismissed. In appeal against these orders in this Court the
assessees prayed for interim stay, but this Court did not grant stay
because the Municipal Corporation had undertaken to return the
amounts if the respondents succeeded. This Court thereafter
allowed the appeals by the assessees. Meanwhile an Amending
B Act called the Bombay Provincial Municial Corporation (Gujarat
Amendment) Act, 1969 had been passed introducing s. 152 A into
the 1949 Act, but that provision was not brought to the notice of
this Court. However, when the assessees demanded refund of the
amounts illegally collected from the Municipal Corporation did not
comply and hence the assessees moved the High Court again.
c These petitions were allowed and the Municipal Corporation
appealed to this Court. While the appeals were pending tbe
Bombay Provincial Municipal Corporation (Gujarat Amendment
and Validity Provision) Ordinance, 1969, was passed and sub-s. (3)
was introduced in s. l 52A.
D
Sub-section (3) which was introduced by the Ordinance was in
the following terms:

"Not withstanding anything contained in any judgment,
decree or order of any Court, it shall be lawful, and shall
E be deemed always to have been lawful, for the Municipal
Corporation of the City of Ahemdabad to withhold refund of
the amount already collected of recovered in respect of any
of the property taxes to which sub-section (I) applies till
assessment or reassessment of such property taxes is made
.
-
and the amount of tax to be levied and collected is deter-
(I
mined under sub-section (I) :

Provided that the Corporation shall pay simple
interest at the rate of six per cent per annum on the amount
of excess liable to be refunded under subsection (2), from
the date of decree or order of the Court referred to in
G subsection (1) to the date on which excess is refnnded,"

This Court held that under. S. 152 A of the Act before the
Corporation could detain any amount collected as property tax
there must be an assessment accordin_g to law; but m the _rresent
there were no assessment orders in accordance with the
~ Se d.
provisions of 1949 Act and the rules as amended by the Amen mg
H
D. CAWASJI v. MYSOl\B (A.N. Sen, .) 837
Act, 1968 and, therefore, the ·appellant corporation was not entitled
A
to retain the amount collected as the Section did not authorise the
Corporation to retain the amounts illegally collected. This Court
has further held that sub-section (3) of S. 152 A which commands
the Corporation to refuse to refund the amount illegally collected
despite the orders of tl1is Court and the High Court. makes a direct
inroad into the judicial powers of the State; and the Legislatures B
which under the Constitution have, within prescribed limits powers
to make laws prospectively and retrospectively are competent in
exercise of these powers to remove the basis of a decision passed by
a competent Court thereby rendering the decision ineffective, but no
legislature in this country has power to ask the instrumentalities of
the State to disobey or disregard the decision given by Court and c
S. 152 A (3) was repugnant to the Constitution. This Court at
p. 295 has referred to the following observations made in Shri
Prithi Cotton Mills Ltd. and Anr. v. The Broach Borough
Municipality and Ors' ;-

D
"Before we examine s. 3 to find out whether it is effec-
tive in its purpose or not we may say a few words about
validating statutes in general. When a legislature sets out
to validate a tax declared by a Court to be illegally collected
under an ineffective or an invalid law, the cause for ineffec- E
tiveness or invalidity must be removed before validation
can be said to take place effectively. The most important
condition of course, is that the legislature must possess the
• power to impose the tax, for, if it does not, the action must
ever remain ineffective and illegal. Granted legislative
competence, it is not sufficient to declare merely that the F
decision of the Court shall not bind for that is tantamount
to reversing the decision in exercise of judicial powerjwhich
the legislature does not possess or exercise. A Court's
decision must always bind unless the conditions on which
it is based are so fundamentally altered that the decision
could not have been given in the altered circumstances.
Ordinarily, a Court holds a tax to be invalidly imposed be- G
cause the power to tax is wanting or the statute or the
rules or both are invalid or do not sufficiently create the
jurisdiction. Validation of a tax so declared illegal may be

(l) (1970] 1 S.C.R. 388,
ff
838 SUPREME COURT REPOR rs (1985] 1 S.C.R.

done only if the grounds of illegality or invalidity are cap·
A
able of being removed and are in fact removed and the tax
thus made legal. Sometime this is done by providing for
jurisdiction where jurisdiction had not been properly invest·
ed before. Sometimes this is done by re· enacting re-trospec-
tively a valid and legal taxing provision and then by fiction
B making the tax already collected to stand under the re·
enacted law."

This Court at p. 296 and 297 relied on the earlier decision of this
Court in the case of Janapada Sabha, Chindwara v. The Central
c Provinces Syndicate Ltd. (supra). This Court finally observed at
page 297:

"We are clearly of the opinion that sub-section (3) of
S. 152A introduced by the Ordinance is repugnant to our
•
Constitution. That apart, the said provi>ion authorises the
D Corporation to retain the amounts illegally collected and
treat them as loans. That is an authority to collect forced
loans. Such conferment of power is impermissible under
our Constitution."

The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the State has
E
submitted that this very contention that the State has sought to
enhance the rate of tax without seeking to remove or rectify the
lacuna which was there in the earlier Act and for which the earlier
provision has been struck down by the High Court, was raised in
the writ petition filed in the High Court by 'the appellant. It is the
.-
F submission of the learned counsel that this contention has been
rejected by the High Court for reasons indicated in the judgment.
The learned counsel has referred to the following observation made
by the High Court :-

"This Court has not held that the State is not at all
G entitled to collect any amount by way of tax on the sale of
arrack. The sale price of arrack during the years 1966 to
1969 was fixed at 55 paisa a litre. The amount which the
State was authorised to collect was six and a half per cent
of 55 paise on the sale of a litre of arrack which comes to
about three and a half paise ; instead, the State collected 24
paise and the excess collection was 20.5 paise a litre. Th~
D. CA WASJI v. MYSORE (A.N. Sen, J.) 839
decision of this Court is that the State without authority of
law was collecting excess amounts by way of tax on the sale
of arrack. It is relevant to state that under the Act where
the State is deemed to be a dealer entitled to cotlect tax
under Section 19, there is no provision for makin~ an
assessment of tax by the assessing authorities as in the case
of ordinary dealers. Without making an assessment, the B
State Government is entitled to collect amounts by way of
tax in the same manner as any other registered dealer autho-
rised to do so under Section JB. By enhancing the rate of
tax from six and half to 45 per cent with retrospective effect
by enacting Section 2 in the impugned Act, it has to be
deemed that the rate of tax under the Act has always been c
45 per cent of the taxable turnover ever since I. 4. 66. If
the rate of tax was 45 per cent on the sale price of arrack
which was 55 paise a litre, then the amount the State was
authorised to collect comes to about 25 paise. Thus it will
be seen that by the enactment of Section 2 of the impugned
0
Act the very basis of the complaint made by the petitioners
before this Court in the earlier writ petitions as also the
basis of the ~ecision of this Court in Cawasji's case that
the State is collecting amounts by way of tax in excess of
what was authorised under the Act has been removed.
Thus the decision of this Court has been rendered
ineffective."

The learned counsel seeks to adopt the aforesaid observations
of the High Court as his submissions and contends that in view of
the aforesaid reasoning which are cogent and sound it cannot be
said that the impugned amendment is unconstitutional. He sub- F
mits that there are no valid grounds for interfering with the judgment
of the High Court.

In the earlier case between the parties to which reference has
already been made, the High Court issued writs directing the State G
Government to fore-bear from collecting from the appellant any
amount representing the sales tax on the following, namely, excise
duty, health cess and education cess imposed on Arrack or special
liquor and to refund to the appellant what might have been collected
from them by way of sales tax on items of excise, health cess and
education cess on Arrack or special liquor. The High Court had
ff
S40 SUPREME COUltT llEPORTS [1985] I S.C.R.

A passed the aforesaid order issuing appropriate writ in view of the
High Court's finding that sales tax is not payabk on excise duty,
health cess and education cess.

In view of the aforesaid judgment and order passed by the
High Court amounts collected by the States by way of Sales Tax on
B items of excise, health cess and education cess on Arrack or special
liquor from the appellant became refundable to the appellant. The
impugned amendment has been passed, as the Statement of Objects
which we have earlier set out clearly indicates to over-ride the
judgment of the High Court and to enable the State to hold on to
c the amount collected as sales tax on excise duty, health cess and
education cess, if any, on Arrack or special liquor. rt-iias to be
noted that the said judgment of the High Court in the earlier case
had become final and conclusive inasmuch as th€: special leave peti·
tion filed against the judgment by the State was withdrawn. The
D State instead of seeking to test the correctness and effect of the
judgment and order!of the High Court thought it fit to have the judg-
ment and order nullified by introducing the impugned amendment.
The amendment does not proceed to cure the defect or the lacuna by
bringing in an amendment providing for exigibility of sales tax on
excise duty, health cess and education cess. The 'impugned Amending
Act may not, therefore, be considered to be a Validating Act. A
E Validating Act seeks to validate the earlier Acts declared illegal and
unconstitutional by Courts by removing the defect or lacuna which
led to invalidation of the law. With the removal of the defect or
lacuna resulting in the validation of any Act he"ld invalid by a com-
petent Court, the Act may become valid, if the Validating Act is
lawfully enacted. But the question may still arise as to what will be
F the fate of acts done b~fore the Validating Act curing the defect
has been passed. To meet such a situation and to provide that no
liability may be imposed on the State in respect of such acts done
before the passing of the Validating Act making such act valid, a
Validating Act is usually passed with retrospective effect. The
retrospective operation relieves the State of the consequences of
G acts done prior to the passing of the Validating Act. The retrospec-
tive operation of a Validating Act properly passed curing the defects
and lacuna which might have led to the invalidity of any act done
may he upheld, if considered reasonable and legitimate.
H
D. CAWASJI v. MYSORll A.N. Sen,'i,J..) 841

In the instant case, the State instead of. remedying the defect A
or removing the lacuna has by the impugned amendment soughnci
raise the rate of tax from 6 .1/2% to 45% with retrospective effect
from the Ist April 1966 to avoid the liability 1of refunding the excess
amount collected and has further purported to nullify the judgment'
and order passed by the High Court directing the refund of the
excess amount illegally collected by providing thanhe levy at the B
Higher rate of 45% will have retrospective effect from Ist of April,
1966. The judgment of the High Court declaring the 1levy of sales
tax on excise duty, education cess and health cess to be bad has
become conclusive and is binding on the parties. ·It may or niay·
not have been competent for the State Legislature to validly·remove
the lacuna and remedy the defect in the earlier lavy by seeking to c
impose sales tax through any amendment on excise duty, education
cess and health cess ; but in any event, the State Government has
not purported to do so through the Amending Act. As a result of
the judgment of the High Court declaring such levy illegal, the State"
became obliged to refund the excess amount wrongfully and illegally
collected by virtue of the specific direction . to · tllat effect in -the D
earlier judgment. It appears that the only object of enacting the
amended provision is to nullify the effect of the judgment which
became conclusive and binding on the parties to enable the State
Government to retain the amount wrongfully and illegally collected
as sales tax and this object has been sought to be achieved by the E
impugned amendment which does not even purport or seek to
remedy or remove the defect and lacuna but merely raises the rate
of duty from 6.1/2% to 45% and further proceeds to nullify the
judgment and order of the High Court. In our opinion, the
enhancement of the rate of duty from 6.1/2% to 45% with retrospec-
tive effect is in the facts and circumstances of the case clearly F
arbitrary and unreasonable. The defect or lacuna is not even 3ought
to be remedied and the only justification for the steep rise in the
rate of duty by the amended provision is to nullify the effect of the
binding judgment. The vice of illegal collection in the absence of
the. removal of the illegality which led to the invalidation of the G
earlier assessments on the basis of illegal levy, continues to taint the
earlier levy. In our opinion, this is not a proper ground for impo-
sing the levy at the higher rate with retrospective effect. It may be
open to the Legislature to impose the levy at the higher rate with
prospective operation but levy of taxation at higher rate which
~lly amounts to imposition of tax w It' h retrospective . operation has
842 SUPllEME COURT REPOllTS [1985] 1 s.c....

A to be justified on proper and cogent grounds. This aspect of the
matter does. not appear to have been prope:rly considered by the
High Court and the High Court in our view was not right in hol·
ding that 'by the enactment of S. 2 of the impugned Act the very
basis. of the complaint made by the petitioner before this Court in
the ~arlier writ petition as also the basis of the decision of this
Court in Cawasji's case that the State is collecting amounts by way
B of tax in excess of what was authorised under the Act has been
removed". We, accordingly, set aside the jUtdgment and order of
the High Court to the extent it upholds the validity of the impugned
amendment with retrospective effect from 1st of April, 1966 and to
the exte11t it seeks to nullify the earlier judgment of the High Court.
We declare that S. 2 of the impugned amendment to the extent that it
imposes the higher levy of 45% with retrospective effect from the
1st day of April, 1966 and S. 3 of the imp·agned Act seeking to
nullify the judgment and order of the High Court are invalid and
unconstitutional.

We accordingly allow the appeals to this extent. The appellants
D shall be entitled to costs of these appeals with one set of hearing fee. i---.-

N.V.~. . Appeals allowed.

..