1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY, BENCH AT AURANGABAD WRIT PETITION NO. 2266 of 1994 Castrol India Limited Registered office White House, 91, Valkeshwar Road, Bombay 400 006. Petitioner Versus Ahmednagar Muncipal Council Ahmednagar. Respondents Mr.A.B. Gatne, Advocate for the petitioner Mr. V.S. Bedre, Advocate for the respondent. CORAM : B.R. GAVAI & S.V. GANGAPURWALA,JJ. DATE : 18TH JUNE, 2010. ORAL JUDGMENT [ PER S.V. GANGAPURWALA,J.]:- 1] The petitioner vide the present petition, impugns the action of the respondent Municipal Council for detaining 20 tons of oil on the ground that the amount of octroi on the same has not been paid. 2] The petitioner had imported some goods for the purpose of immediate export outside the municipal limits i.e. to M/s. Amit Enterprises situated at M.I.D.C., Ahmednagar, which is within the 2 Nagapur village Panchayat area. It is the contention of the petitioner that the petitioner even though requested, was refused escort by the Municipal Council and was directed to take the truck to the central godown. On refusal of escort, the driver of the truck took the truck with the goods to the central godown of Ahmednagar Municipal Council and at the said place, the truck was detained and the petitioner was asked to pay the octroi, even though the goods were supposed to be delivered outside the octroi limits of the Municipal Council. 3] It is the case of the petitioner that the goods are not liable for payment of octroi in view of the provisions of Section 136 read with Section 15 of the Maharashtra Municipalities Act and the Maharashtra Municipalities (Octroi) Rules, 1968, respectively. 4] The respondent/Municipal Council have not filed any counter to the pleadings of the petitioner in the writ petition as such, on the basis of the principle of non-traverse, the pleadings of the petitioner will have to be accepted as true and admitted by the respondents. 5] It is a settled position of law that the octroi can be levied by the Municipal Council only if the goods are imported for the purpose of use, consumption or sale within the municipal limits. In the present case, it is not disputed that the goods were required to be exported to the agency situated outside the municipal limits. The respondent did not have the authority under the law, to levy the amount of octroi on the same. Inter-alia, they did not have any 3 authority to detain the said goods. 6] In view of the above, the action of the Municipal Council is illegal. . By way of an interim order, the petitioner was allowed to lift the goods subject to payment of Rs.19,656/- in this court. We are told that the petitioner has deposited the said amount and the goods have also been delivered to the petitioner. 7] In the light of the above discussion, we allow the writ petition, make rule absolute by holding that the respondent municipal council did not have the authority to levy the octroi on the said goods of the petitioner, which is subject matter of the present petition. The amount deposited by the petitioner be refunded to the petitioner with accrued interest,if any. There shall be no orders as to costs. [S.V. GANGAPURWALA,J.] [B.R. GAVAI,J.] grt/wp