MAHARAJA SHRI UMAID MILLS LTD Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WANCHOO, C. J. 1. This is an application by the Maharaja Shri Umaid Mills Ltd. , Pali, under Article 226 of the Constitution praying for a writ in the nature of prohibition or any other appropriate direction or order against the State of Rajasthan and the Inspector of Factories and Boilers, Jaipur, prohibiting the latter from realizing license fees from the applicant under the Indian Factories Act.

(2.) THE applicant is running a cloth and yarn mill at Pali. Rules under the Factories Act 1948 were published by the State of Rajasthan in August, 1952. According to these rules, certain fees are to be charged from all factories according to horse power installed and the number of persons employed in the factory during the year THE charge is on a sliding scale, and the applicant was required to pay Rs. 2,000/- per year for obtaining a licence under the Indian Factories Act. THE applicant attacks the realization of this Hence fee on the following grounds : (1) that this fee is a tax, and the Rajasthan State has no authority to levy such a tax and (2) that this fee amounts to a tax on professions, trades, callings and employments, and cannot be more than Rs. 250/- per annum in view of Article 276 (2) of the Constitution. THE applicant made representations against the realization of this fee from it, and also pointed out that, under the agreement between the applicant and the former State of Marwar of which the present state of Rajasthan, is the successor, there was no necessity of obtaining a license every year, and for this reason also the fee could not be levied. It is also contended that the levy of this fee was a restraint on the applicant's fundamental right to carry on trade or business, and was therefore, illegal under Article 19.