4 of the agreement executed by the appellant , S. R. Das, J., as he then was , observed in Visweshwar Rao v. The State of Madhya Pradesh 1 The guarantee or assurance to which due regard is to be had is limited to personal rights, privileges and dignities of the Ruler qua a Ruler.
He claims that he was so immune in respect of his property within his State as a Ruler and in respect of his property outside the State by the rules of International Law which, he submits, protect from taxation the properties of a Ruler of a State, situate in a foreign State.
4 and 5, the Dominion Government guaranteed to him all his personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles enjoyed within or without the territory immediately before the 15th August, 1947, and that any attempt to tax his private property by the State of Orissa or by the Union Government violates that guarantee.
By Art.
Appeals from the judgment and order dated August 1, 1956, of the Orissa High Court in O. J. C. Nos.
1 , a Ruler of an Indian State was expressly included and by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950, reference to Rulers of Indian States was deleted as from January 26, 1950.
The appellant was undoubtedly the Ruler of an Indian State before August 15.
The Governor General of India was thereby given power to direct by order that a merged State shall be administered in all respects as if it formed part of the Governors Province specified in the order.
He also imposed a penalty upon the appellant for failure to submit his returns for the years 1949 50 and 1950 51.
The appeals were dismissed by that officer.
The appellant disputed his liability to pay the agricultural income tax and declined to furnish the return.
17, 16, 19 and 137 of 1954 challenging the assessments made by the taxing authorities for the years 1949 50, 1950 51, 1951 52 and 1952 53 respectively, and two more petitions being petitions Nos.
The Government of the Province of Orissa applied to the merged States s. 1 of the Act as from January 19, 1949, and by numberification dated April 1, 1949, the remaining provisions of the Act.
3, the appellant remained entitled to full ownership, use and enjoyment of all private properties but number of the State properties belonging to him on the date of the merger.
The learned Judges therefore dismissed the petitions challenging the liability of the appellant for the assessment years 1950 51, 1951 52 and 1952 53 to pay agricultural income tax, and they cancelled the order of assessment in respect of the year 1949 50 and the orders imposing penalty in respect of years 1949 50 and 1950 51.
This Ordinance was later replaced by the Orissa Merged States Laws Act, XVI of 1950.
1947, but by reason of the merger agreement executed by him on December 15, 1947, his sovereignty was extinguished.
The Agricultural Income tax Officer then proceeded to make enquiries about the income received from the lands held by the appellant and assessed him to pay tax for the years 1949 50 to 1953 54.
By Art.
The Governor General of India exercising authority under ss.
307 to 309 of 1958.
1 of the terms of the merger agreement, the appellant ceded to the Dominion of India full and exclusive authority, jurisdiction and power for and in relation to the governance of the State and agreed to transfer the administration of the State on the appointed day and as from the said day, the Dominion Government became companypetent to exercise the power, authority and jurisdiction in relation to the governance of the State in such matters and through such agency as the Government thought fit.
The appellant was then called upon by the Agricultural Income tax Officer to furnish a return of his agricultural income.
290 A and 290 B issued on July 27, 1949, an order providing that the merged Orissa States including the State of Sonepur shall be administered in all respects as if they formed part of the Province of Orissa with effect from August 1, 1949.
C. Chatterjee, J. H. Umrigar and T. M. Sen, for the respondents In all the appeals .
By Art.
In the meantime, by amendment, two new sections, s. 290 A and s. 290 B were incorporated in the Government of India Act, 1935.
It was provided by Art.
18 and 138 of 1954 against orders imposing penalty for the years 1949 50 and 1950 51 respectively.
Against the orders dismissing the applications for setting aside the assessments in respect of years 1950 51, 1951 52 and 1952 53, these appeals have been preferred with certificate granted by the High Court under Art.
This Act was brought into operation from July 10, 1947.
On December 30, 1949, the Governor of Orissa promulgated Ordinance No.
4 that the Raja, the Rani, the Rajmata, the Yuvraja and the Yuvrani shall be entitled to all personal privileges enjoyed by them whether within or outside the territories of the State, immediately before the 15th day of August, 1947 The appellant companytends that as a Ruler of the State of Sonepur, he was, before merger of his State, immune from liability to taxation in respect of his private property both within his territory and outside.
The Legislature of the Province of Orissa enacted the Orissa Agricultural Income tax Act XXIV of 1947 hereinafter referred to as the Act providing for the levy of income tax on agricultural income derived from lands situated in the Province of Orissa.
4 of the merger agreement entered into by the Ruler of Khairagarh which was in material terms identical with the terms of Art.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeals Nos.
5, the Dominion Government gua ranteed the succession according to law and customs, to the gadi of the State and to the personal rights, privileges, dignities and titles of the appellant.
1 , defined a person as inclusive of a Ruler of an Indian State.
By the proviso to that section, agricultural income of the Central Government or of the State Government or of any local authority was exempt from taxation.
Against the order assessing him to tax and directing him to pay penalty, the appellant preferred appeals to the Assistant Collector of Agricultural Income tax, Sambalpur.
By virtue of the merger agreement, the Government of India acquired full sovereign rights over the territory of the State, but ownership of private properties belonging to the appellant and full enjoyment thereof were under the agreement guaranteed to him under Art.
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by SHAH J. This is a group of three appeals filed with certificate of fitness under Art.
September 21.
In exercise of the powers companyferred by the Extra Provincial Jurisdiction Act 47 of 1947, the Government of India by numberification dated March 23, 1948, delegated to the Provincial Government of Orissa full powers to administer the merged States of Orissa including the State of Sonepur.
These six petitions and certain other petitions were heard by a Division Bench of the Orissa High Court.
307 to 309 of 58 .
After the establishment of the Dominion of India on August 15, 1947, the appellant as the Ruler of the State of Sonepur executed an instrument of accession to the.,
On December 15, 1947, he executed a merger agreement whereby the territory of the State of Sonepur became merged with the territory of the Dominion of India.
16, 19, 137 and 61 of 1954.
IV of 1949 providing inter alia that the Agricultural Income tax Act, 1947, be applied to the merged Orissa States.
B. Aggarwala and P. C. Aggarwala, for the appellant In As.
132 of the Constitution issued by the High Court of Judicature, Orissa.
The appellant in these three appeals is the former Ruler of the State of Sonepur.
The appellant filed four petitions in the High Court of Orissa, being petitions Nos.
Revision applications to the Collector of Commercial Taxes, Cuttack and to the Board of Revenue were unsuccessful.
Dominion restricted to three subjects Defence, External Affairs and Communications.
