Case: Hindustan Aeronautics Vs. Registering Authority

of the Schedule and that must be a vehicle which is used for conveying passengers. 7. In Sales v. Lake & Ors., 1922(1) KB 553, the expression "pites for hire" arose for consideration. The language used in the provision considered therein was "every carriage of different descriptions or other vehicle which is intended or used for the conveyance of passengers and which plies for hire in any street, road or place and in which the passengers or any of them are charged to any separate and distinct or at the rate of separate and distinct fares for the respective places or seats therein". The court was of the view that a vehicle cannot accurately be said to ply for hire unless two conditions are satisfied. Firstly, there must be a soliciting or waiting to secure passengers by the driver or other person in control without any previous contract with them. And, secondly, the owner or person in control who is engaged in or authorised the soliciting or waiting must be in possession of a carriage for which he is soliciting or waiting to obtain passengers. We are not concerned with the second condition. So far as the first condition is concerned, "a vehicle plies for hire" means that is regularly used for such hire, that is, the vehicle which is offered for such service regularly. The expression "to ply for hire" means to exhibit the vehicle in such a way as to invite those who may desire to hire it for travel in it on payment of usual fares or to offer its use thereby soliciting customers. 8. All the authorities have relied upon the circular No. HAL/KPT/CAF/3/3/88/137 issued by the appellant on February 27, 1988. Therefore, to correctly appreciate the matter in dispute, it is necessary to set out the entire circular which is as under :- "Sub : Revision of charges to be levied for private use of Companys Vehicles...........It has been decided to revise the charges for private use of Companys transport by employees as indicated below with effect from 1.3.88 so as to cover the direct cost o operations :-Table #a) Bus, Rs. 400 per KM plus detention charges of Rs. 15/- per hour.b) Car (Diesel), Rs. 1.50 per KM plus detention charges of Rs. 6/- per hour.c) Car (Petrol), Rs. 3.00, -----do-----d) Jeep(Diesel), Rs. 1.50, -----do-----e) Jeep(Petrol), Rs. 2.00, -----do----f) Van/Minibus/Station Wagon/Ambulance (diesel), Rs. 200 per KM plus detention charges of Rs. 10/- per hour.g) -do- (Petrol, Rs. 3.00 per KM --do--h) Truck (diesel), Rs. 4.00 per KM --do--2. The above charges will be levied on garage basis.3. In respcr of Picnic trips arranges by employees through bodies recognised by HAL the charges would be Rs. 1.50 per KM plus detention charges Rs. 6/- per hour for the bus on garage to garage basis.4. The charges for trucks provided to Hindustan Aeronautics Consumers Co-operativce stores will be Rs. 0.25 per KM on garge-to-garage basis of lifting the ration commodities only and for oother trips at the rates mention din para-1 above.5. The charges for the vehicles given for use by outside parties (other than HAL employees or other recognised bodies of HAL) like State Govt. authorizes and other like institutions etc. will be 50% additional over the rates indicated in para-1 above. When the vehicles are given for private use by outside parties, they should deposit the full amount of expected usage in advance before the Vehicles is moved out of the garage.6. While it should be the policy to discourage the private use of companys transport/vehicles, wherever it is considered necessary to permit such use in unavoidable cases, the officers concerned will intimate the employees of the revised rates before forwarding the requests to the General Manager for approval., Â?39Â?3 ÅThis issues with the approval of General Manager." 9. Although the circular is captioned "Revision of charges to be levied for private use of Companys Vehicles", it is made clear that the policy of the company is to discourage private use of companys transport for vehicles but wherever it is considered necessary to permit such use in unavoidable cases, the officer concerned will intimate the employees of the revised rates before forwarding the requests to the General Manager for approval. Thus the rates specified are not by way of an offer to the general public but to regulate the use of the vehicles in a particular manner. Thus the buses are not plied for hire or reward. And, in addition to that, the vehicles are used mainly for their employees and their children as part of the welfare measure of the employees. If the members of the family of the employees, like the spouses or children, are allowed to travel in those buses, it should not be treated as the vehicle being plied for "hire or reward". In such circumstances, we do not think that the authorities were justified in treating the vehicles as being flied for "hire or reward". They have lost sight of the fact that the requirement to attract the charge under Entry 4 of the Schedule to the Act was "playing of motor vehicles for hire" and not mere user. Therefore, we do not think that either the High Court or authorities under the Act were justified in either imposing the higher rate of tax under Entry 4 of the Schedule to the Act or upholding the same when challenged. 10. Other decisions in I.T.I. Limited v. Passenger Tax Officer, AIR 1996 Allahabad 79, TATA Engineering & Locomotive Co. Ltd. v. The Sales Tax Officer & Regional Transport Officer, Poona & Anr., 1979(2) SCR 357, and Smt. H.M.T. Sittamma & Anr. v. State of Karnataka & Ors., AIR 1979 Karnataka 211, are adverted to by the learned counsel appearing in the case. However, these cases turned upon the respective provisions of the Motor Vehicles Taxation Act with which they were concerned in those cases. Therefore, these decisions may not be of any relevance or application to the present case. 11.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]es v. Lake & Ors., 1922(1) KBthe expression "pites for hire" arose for consideration. The language used in the provision considered therein was "every carriage of different descriptions or other vehicle which is intended or used for the conveyance of passengers and which plies for hire in any street, road or place and in which the passengers or any of them are charged to any separate and distinct or at the rate of separate and distinct fares for the respective places or seats therein". The court was of the view that a vehicle cannot accurately be said to ply for hire unless two conditions are satisfied. Firstly, there must be a soliciting or waiting to secure passengers by the driver or other person in control without any previous contract with them. And, secondly, the owner or person in control who is engaged in or authorised the soliciting or waiting must be in possession of a carriage for which he is soliciting or waiting to obtain passengers. We are not concerned with the second condition. So far as the first condition is concerned, "a vehicle plies for hire" means that is regularly used for such hire, that is, the vehicle which is offered for such service regularly. The expression "to ply for hire" means to exhibit the vehicle in such a way as to invite those who may desire to hire it for travel in it on payment of usual fares or to offer its use thereby solicitingthe circular is captioned "Revision of charges to be levied for private use of Companys Vehicles", it is made clear that the policy of the company is to discourage private use of companys transport for vehicles but wherever it is considered necessary to permit such use in unavoidable cases, the officer concerned will intimate the employees of the revised rates before forwarding the requests to the General Manager for approval. Thus the rates specified are not by way of an offer to the general public but to regulate the use of the vehicles in a particular manner. Thus the buses are not plied for hire or reward. And, in addition to that, the vehicles are used mainly for their employees and their children as part of the welfare measure of the employees. If the members of the family of the employees, like the spouses or children, are allowed to travel in those buses, it should not be treated as the vehicle being plied for "hire or reward". In such circumstances, we do not think that the authorities were justified in treating the vehicles as being flied for "hire or reward". They have lost sight of the fact that the requirement to attract the charge under Entry 4 of the Schedule to the Act was "playing of motor vehicles for hire" and not mere user. Therefore, we do not think that either the High Court or authorities under the Act were justified in either imposing the higher rate of tax under Entry 4 of the Schedule to the Act or upholding the same whendecisions in I.T.I. Limited v. Passenger Tax Officer, AIR 1996 Allahabad 79, TATA Engineering & Locomotive Co. Ltd. v. The Sales Tax Officer & Regional Transport Officer, Poona & Anr., 1979(2) SCR 357, and Smt. H.M.T. Sittamma & Anr. v. State of Karnataka & Ors., AIR 1979 Karnataka 211, are adverted to by the learned counsel appearing in the case. However, these cases turned upon the respective provisions of the Motor Vehicles Taxation Act with which they were concerned in those cases. Therefore, these decisions may not be of any relevance or application to the present case.