Kamal Singh vs State of Uttarakhand and others

Hon''ble Barin Ghosh, C.J.—It does not appear that Uttar Pradesh Chetra Panchayat & Zila Panchayat Adhiniyam 1961, authorized any of the Panchayats to collect any Toll or Tax from owners of Motor Vehicles. It appears that purporting to act u/s 239-Cha of the said Act, such Toll or Tax was being collected. When the matter was brought to the notice of the Government of Uttar Pradesh, the said Government through its Secretary, Panchayat Raj, directed the Panchayats, through the Commissioners, that henceforth, no such Toll Tax be collected. Section 239-Cha of the said Act does not authorize collection of such Toll or Tax. The law contained in the said Act is applicable to the State. Since, the said Act has not been adopted with modification, the said Act applies with all its force to the State of Uttarakhand. It is not the contention of the State that Section 239-Cha of the said Act authorized collection of such Toll or Tax. We have considered Section 239 of the said Act and have found no provision contained therein, which authorizes any of the Panchayats to collect any such Toll or Tax. It is the contention, however, of the Panchayats that they are entitled to connect such Toll or Tax under Article 243(H) of the Constitution of India. Article 243(H) authorizes Panchayats to levy such Tax that the Legislature of the State may, by law, authorize the Panchayats to levy and collect. As yet, as aforesaid, the law applicable to the State does not authorize the Panchayats to levy such Tax, nor the State has made any law authorizing Panchayats to collect the same. That being the situation, we restrain each of the Panchayats from collecting such Toll or Tax.

The writ petition is, accordingly allowed.