Case: Ram Bachan Lal Vs. State of Bihar &amp; Another

1. In this petition under Art. 32 of the Constitution a notice of demand issue ed by the Dehri-Dalmianagar Notified Area Committee demanding Rs. 100/- on account of Profession Tax levied under the Bihar and Orissa Municipal Act 1922 (B. and O. Act VII of 1922) - hereinafter referred to as the Act- for the period 1963-64 to l965-66 from the petitioner Shri Ram Bachan Lal, Land Officer, who is in the employment of Rohtas Industries Ltd., Dalmianagar, is sought to be quashed or, the ground that the provisions of the Act under which it has been issued infringe the fundamental rights of the petitioner under Arts. 14, 19 and 31 of the Constitution.

Reasoning: Coming to the second point, S. 82 is challenged on various grounds. First, it is said that the proviso to S. 82 (1)(ff) enables the Government to exempt any classes of profession, trades or callings from the tax, without giving any guidance as to which classes should be exempted. We do not find it necessary to deal with this academic point because, first, the Government has not exercised this power and, secondly, even if we were to hold this proviso to be violative of Art. 14, it would he severable and would not give any relief to the petitioner. The second ground of attack is that the rate of tax to be levied has been left to the discretion of the Commissioners under S. 82(1)(ff) and of the Government under proviso (iv) to S. 82(1) without giving any guidance as to the amount of tax. We see no force in this contention. Schedule IV specifies the maximum amount of tax that can be levied and Section 150D lays down the purposes for which the tax can be utilised. This, in our view, gives sufficient guidance to the Commissioners of the State Government to fix the rate of taxIt seems to us that the Government will only direct the Commissioners to levy the tax if the Commissioners do not carry out their duty properly. Chapter XIII of the Act, which has been applied to the Notified Areas, confers powers of control on the State Government over the Notified Areas and the Government would only act under proviso (iv) to S. 82(1) if it is necessary in view of the circumstances of the caseIt seems to us that the Government will only direct the Commissioners to levy the tax if the Commissioners do not carry out their duty properly. Chapter XIII of the Act, which has been applied to the Notified Areas, confers powers of control on the State Government over the Notified Areas and the Government would only act under proviso (iv) to S. 82(1) if it is necessary in view of the circumstances of the caseWe see no force in this contention. We have already set out the explanations to S. 150 A. Explanation (1) clearly provides that if a person is assessable to income-tax under the Indian Income-tax Act, 1922, his taxable income would be determined according to the provisions of the Indian Income-tax Act, and if he is not assessable his taxable income would be computed as far as may be in accordance with the procedure laid down in the said ActSome complaint was made about Explanation (2) that unnecessary burden was being placed on the person, liable to tax, but we are unable to appreciate this point. The assessee has only to produce the order from the assessing authorities to establish the amount of this taxable incomeThe last complaint was that no appeals or references are provided in the Act and the only remedy of an assessee who was aggrieved by the assessment is to file a review under S. 150E. In the circumstances we consider that S. 150E gives a reasonable remedy to an aggrieved person. Sub-section (2) of S. 150E directs that the application has to be heard and determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in Sections 115, 117, 118 and 119. These sections have been applied to the Notified Area Committees. Under S. 117 a review would be heard by a Committee consisting of not less than three Commissioners and the Committee is further entitled to take evidence and to make such enquiries as it deems necessary. The subject matter of Profession Tax is not very complicated and in our view, the procedure provided for the assessment and review is reasonable.