Steno Legal Dictation No. 232

The Supreme Court today (October 16) observed that the royalty imposed by the Municipal Corporation on the advertising companies for putting up hoardings/advertisements could not be termed as tax. The Bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah set aside the Patna High Court's Division Bench decision which directed the Patna Municipal Corporation to refund the royalty collected from the advertising companies on the note that the Corporation has no legislative competence to levy & collect royalty under Article 265 of the Constitution