(A) Mines & Minerals - Municipalities & Local Governments - Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 - Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961, s. 151(1) - Mining lease - Zilla Parishad Cess (ZP Cess) - Demand - Legality - Appellant obtained a mining lease for limestone from the respondent State wherein appellant had agreed to pay dead rent, surface rent, water rate and other cesses - Collector served notice of appellant demanding surface rent, ZP Cess and Gram Panchayat Cess (GP Cess) - Appellant informed that they were not liable to pay ZP Cess and GP Cess - Collector sent revised notice reiterating the demand of ZP Cess and GP Cess beyond the amount of surface rent on the ground that such cess was due under the provisions of the Rules - Appellant contended that s. 151 (1) of the Act exempted the lessees from payment of ZP cess -Whether the appellant was liable to pay the ZP Cess - Held, if a lessee from the State Government was exempted from payment of ZP Cess leviable u/s. 151(1) of the Act, by s. 151(1) itself, the State Government should not 'levy' the said ZP Cess under a contract entered in terms of the Rules - For payment of a cess under a particular Act, liability under that Act was condition precedent - Thus, if ZP Cess was not due or payable by a lessee under the Act, the State should not say that the amount was due under the lease deed executed in terms of the Rules - Hence, the appellant was not liable to pay the ZP Cess - Appeal allowed.
(B) Mines & Minerals - Municipalities & Local Governments - Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 - Bombay Gram Panchayats Act, 1958, s. 127(1) - Maharashtra Land Revenue Code, 1966, s. 64 - Mining lease - Gram Panchayat Cess (GP Cess) - Demand - Legality - Whether the appellant was liable to pay the GP Cess - Held, effect of s. 127(1) was that wherever land revenue was payable by a person, such person liable to pay the land revenue, would also have to pay GP Cess equal to the amount of the land revenue - Therefore, only a person who was liable to pay land revenue would be liable to pay GP Cess - S. 64 of the Land Revenue Code provided that all lands were liable to payment of land revenue to the State Government except such as may be wholly exempted under the provisions of the special contract with the State Government - Cl. VII(1) of the lease deed dated 12-2-1980 between State Government and the appellant provided such exemption as it said the lessee should not be liable to pay land revenue - Further, even u/cl. V(4) of the lease deed, what was liable to be paid was 'surface rent' which was equivalent to the non-agricultural assessment, and not land revenue, that was non-agricultural assessment itself - Thus there was a special contract between the State and the appellant whereby the appellant was exempted from paying land revenue - If the appellant was not liable to pay the land revenue, it would not be liable to pay any GP Cess, as s. 127(1) made it clear that the said cess was payable only on the amount payable as land revenue - If no amount was payable as land revenue, it followed as no amount was payable as GP Cess - Cl. V(4) of the lease deed required payment of GP Cess only if it was payable under the Act - Therefore appellant was not liable to pay GP Cess under the Act - Appeal allowed.
