Case Law Details
Megha Technical & Engineers Pvt. Ltd. Vs State of Meghalaya (Meghalaya High Court)
Meghalaya High Court held that State had no authority to impose cess in terms of the Meghalaya Cement Cess Act, 2010 and by annulling the Act as ultra vires the Constitution and requiring the State to refund 20 percent of the amount realized on such count from the individual petitioners to such petitioners and investing 30 percent of the total amount of cess realised under bogus legislation for the purpose of procuring the equipment for the cancer wing of the Government General Hospital in Shillong as aforesaid.
FULL TEXT OF THE JUDGMENT/ORDER OF UTTARAKHAND HIGH COURT
The challenge in these two writ petitions is to the validity of a State enactment that already stands repealed upon the goods and service tax regime having taken over.
2. According to the petitioners, the cess imposed by the State of Meghalaya by the Meghalaya Cement Cess Act, 2010 (Act No.5 of 2011) was completely illegal, without any authority and grossly prejudicial to the petitioners and others connected with the cement industry. The petitioners submit that when a tax is imposed by a State or the Union in accordance with law, a further levy may be added thereto by way of a cess, where the quantum realised by way of the cess is earmarked for a special public beneficial purpose. The petitioners refer to the education cess which is imposed on income-tax and cess charged in various other fields by way of an additional levy but which is earmarked for a special purpose and may not be subsumed as a part of the general revenue of the Union or the State.
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