6 S.C.R. SUPREME COURT. REPORTS STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH v. BHAILAL BHAI & ORS. (P. B. GAJBNDRAGADKAR, K. N. WANCl{OO, K. c. PAS GUPTA, ]. C. SHAH AND N. RAJAGOPALA AYYANGAll JI.) COftltltution of India, 1950, A.rtl. 226, 301 and 304-luue of Wrlf- Unrewonahle
delay in moving Coun-what iJ-Sale1 lmpedint Inter Stolt trade-Validity-Tax paid under mistak~ Ordtr of np111me111-Jurildiction of High Court 1m4er A.rt. 221 The respondents are doalen iii tobaccp in the State of Madhya B))ant. The appellant imposed sales tu on the sale of imported tobacco by the respondents.
But no such tax was imposed on the sale of indigcoot11 tobacco. The respondents filed petitions under Art. 226 of the Constiru. lion for the bsue of writ of mandamus 'directing the refund of sales tu: collected from them. They contended that the impugned tu violated Art. 301 (a) of the Constitution and they pru"d the tax under a mistake at law and the tax so paid was refundable under s. 72 of the Indian Con- tract Act, 1872. The appellant contended that there was no violation ol. Art.
301 of the Constitution, even if there was such violation the tu: came witllin the special provision under Art. 304(a), the High Court bu no power to direct refund of tax already paid and in any event the Hiaft Court should not exercise its discretionary power of issuing a writ of mart- llamus directing this to be done since there was unreasonable delay la tiling the petition. The High Court rejected all the contentions of the appellant and a writ of mandamus was issued as prayed for. The appel- lants appealed to this Court. Before this Court substantially the same contention:;. a11 were canvassed before the High Court were raised. Held: (i) Even though the liability to pay tax was crµted by the sale of tobacco in Madhya Pradesh and not by the import itself the facts and circumstances showed that trade and commerce. as between Madh11 Bharat and other parts of India was directly impeded by tb,o impulld wx and therefore the said tax violated Art. 30l(a) of the Constitution. Atiabarj Tea Co. Ltd. v. Statt of Assam. [1961) I S.C.R. 809, A.1110- mnbileJ Transport (Ra/allhan) Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan, [1963) I S.C.R. 491 and Firm Mehtab Majid I Co. v. Stat• of MadrtU, A.l.jl. 1943 S.C. '21, referred to.
(ii) Even thou'lb the tu contravened Art. ~OJ of the ConstituliGa it would he valid if it came within the saving provi•illtll ot Art. J04 pl tbe Constitution. (lii) Tobacco manufll!'!ured or produce4 in the appellant ~late, Ii niJac lo tho tobacco imported from outside bad no« been subl«tetl to lhe tu and therefore the tu wu noC l!lithin the saviiis provisipna ot Ad. 304 <•> ol the Comtitlllioa.
(iv) The tax which had already been paid was so paid under a mistake within s. 72 of the Indian Contract Act. The High Courts have power State po!uiMhdhya for the purpose of enforcement of fundamental rights and statutory rights "·v, ei
to grant consequential reliefs by or'dering repayment of money realised by Bhailol Bhai. the Governn1ent without the authority of law. Firm Mehtab Majid & Co. Y. State of Madras, A.I.R. 1963 S.C. 921 and Sale& Tax Officer, Banaras v. Kanhaiya Lal Saraf, [1963] S.C.R. 1360, referred to.
( v) A~ a general rule if there has been unreason~ble delay the coutt ought n9t ordinarily to lend its aid to a party by the extraordinary remedy of manrlamuJ. Even if there is not such delay, in cues where th.e opposite party raises a prima facie issue as regards the availability of such relief on the merits on grounds like limitation the Court should ordinarily refuse to issue the writ of mandamus.
(vi) Though the provisions of the Limitation Act do not as such .&pply to the grantin& of relief under Art. 226 the maximum period fixed I by the legish•_ture as the time within which relief by a suit in a Civil Court must be claimed 1nay ordinarily be taken to be a reasonable standard by .wh~:;h delay in seeking remedy under Art. 226 can be
measured. The Court may consider the delay unreasonable even if it is less than the period of limitation prescribed for a civil action for the remedy. Where the delay is more than this period it will almost always be proper for the court to bold that it is unreasonable.
The period of limitation prescribed for recovery of money paid by mistake under the Limitation Act is three yeaN from the date when the mistake is known. In the result C.A. No!. 861-867 are allowed in part and the other appeals are di!iimhsed.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Civil Appeah Nos. 362-377 of 1962. Appeals from the judgment and orders dated December 16, 1959 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Miscella· aeous Petitions Nos. 144 to 158 and 160 of 1958.
Civil Appeals Nos. 858 to 867 of 1962. Appeals from the judgment and orders dated 28th Octo- ber, 1960, 16th September, 1960 and 29th July, 1960 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Miscellaneous Petl-
tiom Nos. 110, 119 and 136 of 1960, 198, 199, 202 to 206 of 1959 respectively. · Civil Appeals Nos. 25 to 29 of 1963. Appeals from the judgment and orders dated 29th July, 1960, 26th September, 1960, 28th October, 1960, 16th
September. 1960 and 28th October, 1960 of the Madhya l 6 S.C.R. Pradesh High Court in Miscellaneous Petition Nos. 27' cf 1958, 73, 74, 120 and 132 of 1960 respectively. M. Adhikari, Advocate-General, Madhya Pradesh and
I. N. Shroff, for the appellants (in all the appeals). M. C. Setalvad, S. N. Andley, Rameshwar Nath and P. L. Vohra, for the respondent (in C.A. No. 362/1962). S. N. Andley, Rameshwar Nath and P. L. Vohra, for
the respondents (in C.A. Nos. 363 to 377 and 858 to 867 of 1962 and 25 to 27 of 1963). January 20, 1964. The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Stat• of Madlt1fl Prad111h v. Bhailal BluJI
DAS GUPTA J.-These 31 appeals by the State of Madhya o., Gurt• J. Pradesh are against the orders made by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in 31 applications under Art. 226 of the Constitution by dealers in tobacco.
All these petition- ers carried on business in Madhya Bharat which later be- came part of the State of Madhya Pradesh. They were assessed to sales tax on their sales of tobacco in accordance with the notification issued by the State Government
in exercise of pow'ers under s. 5 of the State Sales Tax Act and large amounts were collected by the Madhya Bharat Government and later by the Madhya Pradesh Govern- ment. The petitioners contended that the taxing
pr9vi- 1ions under which the tax was assessed and collected from them was unconstitutional as it infringed Art. 301 of the Constitution and did not come Within the special provision of Art. 304(a). Accordingly, they prayed for appropriate
writs or orders for refund of all the taxes that has been collected from them. In resisting these applications the Madhya Pradesh Government contended, first, that the taxing provisions did not offend Art.
301 of the Cons- titution and that in any case, they satisfed the requirements of Art. 304(a). It was further contended that even if tl)e taxing p10vision was unconstitutional and the
assessment and collection of tax had been without any legal authority the petitioitiers were not en ti tied to the order for refund prayed for. (rg64] The l:ligb Count was of opinion on a consideration of
;;fita41iyo the notification under which the tax was assessed that it 'fOllull imposed a tax only on imported tobacco and not on home b AJJJoJ B/ioi grown to acco and so it did not come within the special
,,_ a;;;,. 1. provisions of Art. 304 (a) of the Constitution and con- sequently the infringement of Art. 301 of the Constitution which resulted from the imposition of a tax on import of
goods made the provisions void in law. The prayer for refund was allowed in the applications out of which C.A. Nos. 362-377, C.A. Nos. 861-867 of 1962 and C.A. No. 25 of 1963 have arisen.
The prayer was rejecr.ed in the remaining applicatiom. · In the present appeals the State of Madhya Pradesh challenges the correctness of the High Court's decision that the taxirig provision was unconstitutional and void and also ~rders for refund m34e in· some of the ~lions men-
tionC!( above. The liability to pay tax arose under s.3 of the Madhya Bharat Sales Tax Act. This Act came into force from ~e 1st day of May 1950. As originally enacted it 11rovi- ded that (a) every dealer who imports goods into Madhya
Bharat shall be liable to pay tax on his taxable turnover in respect of sales or supplies of goods effected from the lit day of May 1950 if his total turnover in the previous year in respect of sales or supplies of goods exceeded Rs 5,000; (I>) similarly every manufacturer or processor whose turn- over in the previous year exceeded Rs. 5,000 was made
liable to pay tax on his taxable turnover in respect of sales .Jf supplies of goods effected from the 1st day of May 1950; (c) every other dealer was made liable to pay tax on his taxable turnover in respect of sales or supplies or
goods ellecOOd from the 1st day of May 1950, if the total turnover in the previous year exceeded Rs. 12,000. By later amendments the word "processor" was deleted from cl. (b) of the section and the meaning of the words "any
other" in cl. ( c) was made clearer by substituting the w9rds "any goods of a dealer not falling in cl. (a) or cl. C)?)". There was also an amendment in 1950 making it clCM that the taxable turnover on which the tax liability
6 S.C.R. 26S IH4 arose was in respect of sales or supplies ·of goods effected in Madhya Bharat. State oj M,,,,,,,_ ~iaUlh Section 5 of the Act provides that the tax payable by a dealer shall be at a single point and shalt not be less than Rs. 1/9/- per cent or more than 6! per cent of the taxable turnover, as notified from time to time by
the Go\'ern- ment by publication in the Official Gazette. This is 5ub- ject to a proviso that the Government may in respect of a special class of goods charge tax upto 12!% on the taxable turnover.
The second sub-section of s. 5 empowers the Government to notify at the time of notifying the tax pay- able by a dealer, the goods and the point of their sale at which the tax is payable. • The legal position therefore is that unless there is a valid notification under s. 5 no tax can be levied.
The contention of the petitioners-dealers which has succeeded in the High Court is that the notifica- tions on the strength of which the tax was asse.ssed on tbem were invalid. The first notification was issued on April 30,
1950. This provided that with effect from the Ist day of May 1950 sales tax shall be oolleoted in respect of goods speci- fied in column 2 of the Schedule that was attached to tho
notification at the point of sale mentioned in column 3 at lhe rates mentioned in column 4. The relevant portion of the Schedule ran thus:- SI Name of commadit7 The point of sale Rate of
No. by dealers IU Tobacco leaves, manufactu~ Importer 6-4-0 red tobacco \for eating and tr CCll1 amoking) and tobacco µscd alct~ for Jlldi manufacturing. This was followed by another notification dated May
22, 1950 under which a lower rate was prescribed fur tobacco used for Bidi manufacturers. But the point at which the tax was payable remained unaltered. Tho rclo- al#liW B,,_ D. a.,,. J.
[1g64] l91U vant portion of the Schedule to this notification was in .ltate of Madh1• these words: Prade1h v. ———-~———— …., BhlzI .D-6 Gupta /. SI. No. Nainc of commodity
IO. Tobacco leaves and manu- factured tobacco (for eating, smoking and snuffing) I I. Tobacco used for Bidi manufacturing. Point of sale by the dealers inM.B. Importer Importer Rate per cent
of tax 1-9-0 For a short period, i.e., from the 1st January 1954 to the ,21st January 1954 these two notifications remained inoperative in consequence of a notification dated the 24th Octoj>er, 1953, under which from the 1st January
the point of sale at which the tax was payable was altered to "on a sale by a dealer direct to a consumer or to a dealer who does not hold a licence or registration certificate under the Sales Tax Act". This last notification was
again superseded by a notification dated the 21st January, 1954 in consequence of which th:e old position was restored with effect from January 22, 1954. That is, with effect from
22nd January 1954 the point at which the tax was payable, again became a sale by an importer. There can be no doubt that the tax payable at the point of sale by the importer in Madhya Bharat directly impeded
the freedom of trade and commerce guaranteed by Art. 30 l of the Constitution. It is true that the import by itself would not bring in the liability to tax and that if the im- ported goods were not sold in Madhya Bharat no tax
would be payable. Quite clearly however by far the greater part of the tobacoo leaves, manufactured tobacco (for eating and smoking) and tobacco used for Bidi manu- facturing that would be imported into the State would be
sold in Madhya Bharat. That a very considerable amount was so sold is clear from the very assessment orders made .•in these several cases. There can be no doubt therefore 6 S.C.R.
that even though it is the sale in Madhya Bharat of the imported goods that creates the liability to tax and not the import by itself, the trade and commerce as between Madhya Bharat and other parts of India is directly impeded by this tax.
On the authority of this Court's decision in Atiabari Tea Co., Ltd. v. State of Assam(') it must therefore be held that the tax contravenes the provisions of Art. 301 of the Constitution.
It may be mentioned that the later decision of this Court in Automobile Transport (Rajasthan) Ltd. v. State of Rajasthan(') which slightly modified the majority decision in Atiabari Tea Co.'s case does not alter this
position. If the tax could have been claimed to be regula- tory or compensatory it would have got the benefit of th~ latter decision. There is, however, no scope for such a claim (See
Firm Mehtab Majid & Co. v. State of Madras)('). The tax could still be good if even though it contravened the provisions of Art. 301 'it came within the saving provi- sions of AI1.
304( a) of the Constitution. That Article provides in its cl. (a) that notwithstanding anything in Arti- cle 301 or Art. 303 the legislature of a State may by law impose on goods imported from other States any tax to
which similar goods manufactured or produced in that State are subject so however as not to discriminate between goods so itnported and goods so manufactured or produced. An attempt was made on behalf of the State befl""e the
High Court and also before us to construe the notification mentioned above to mean that not only the tobacco im- ported from other States but also similar goods manufac- tured or produced in Madhya Bharat were subject to this
tax and at the same rate. It was argued that a dealer in these goods who was an importer and so sold goods im- ported by him into Madhya Bharat would also be selling goods not so imported but manufactured and produced in
the State. We are prepared to agree that that may well be so. What we are unable to see, however, is that in respect of sales of such other goods this person would be liable to (') [19611 I S.::;.R. 809.
(' ; [1963] I S.C.R. 491. (') \.I.R. 1963 S.C. 928. State of Madhya Pu11J8'11 BhaiW Bh4i Das Gupta/. ST TPREME COURT REPORTS [rg64] any tax under the notification. We are informed that in
Shot• of Madh1• tact where importers dealt with goods other than imported _?,..,. goods the sales of such other goods were in fact excluded llhaiW. IJ!wi from tax. The learned Advocate-General of Madhya
DtU G•pt• J. Pradesh who appeared before us in support of these appeals suggested that tha~ was done by the State Sales Tax Authorities on a mistaken interpretation of the law. We do not think so. In our opinion, the only reasonable
interpretation of the. notification as it stands, viz., that tax on tobacco leaves, manufactured tobacco and tobacco used for Bidi manufacturing would be payable at the point of sale by the importer, is that only the sale of goods which the importer had imported would be liable to tax and not
&ale of any other goods by him. If the intention had bCCll as. suggested by the learned Advocate-General that though . the tax is payable at the point of sale by an importer the iiale by the same person of good>
manufactured or pro- duced in Madhya Bharat would also be liable to tax, the word "importer" would not have been used in column 3 ·but the word "dealer" would have been used and the
point of sale would have been indicated by some othec words as the "first sale in Madhya Bharat" or "the sW. t.o the retailer in Madhya Bharat" as the rule-1p.aking autho- rity chose.
The matter becomes even more clear if in column 3 we read for "importer" the definition of "importer of goods" in s. 2 ( i) of the Act. Reading this we find that the point of sale in Madhya Bharat at which the tax is payable i.s
the sale "by the dealer who brings or causes to be brought into Madhya Bharat any goods from outside for the pur- pose of processing, manufacturing br sale" or ''who pur- chases goods in Madhya Bharat for the purpose of sale
from a dealer who does not ordinarily carry on business iD Madhya. Bharat." When only such a sale is being made the point at which the tax is payable, there is hardly any scope for a serious argument that the notification was inten- ded to make sales by that same dealer of goods manufac-
tured or· produced in Madhya Bharat liable to tax. It may not be out of place to illOtice in this connection the distinction made by s.3 of·the Madhya Bharat Sales 6 S.C.R. SUPREME WURT REPORTS
Tax Act between sales bY. a dealer who imports gooda 1'64 lcl.(a)] and other dealers [els. (b) and (c)]. It is not un- St•t• ., lltullrya .!Casonable to think that the Act itself contemplated
the '"*"' Bales by an importer of goods as meaning only sab by him .frd!i •i..1 of goods imported by him into Madhya Bharat. Apart from this, it has to be noticed that admittedly the notifica- DIM <lqta J,
tion \lid not make dealers who dealt only in home grown or home produced tobacco liable to pay the tax. That by lbelf would be sufficient to bring in the vice of discrimi- nation which is the purpose of Art. 304(a) to prevent.
There can, therefore, be no. escape from the conclusion that similar goods manufactured or produced in the State of Madhya Bharat hav'e not been subjected to the tax which tobacco leaves, manufactured tobacco and tobacco
used for Bidi manufacturing, imI)Orted from other States have to pay on sale by the importer. J'his tax is, therefore, not within the saving provisions ' of Art. • 304 (a) . As ruready
1/ pointed out it contravenes the provisions of Art., 301 of tbe Constitution. The tax has therefore been rightly held by the High Court to be invalid. It is clear that the assess-
ment of tax under these notifications was thus invaliil in law. A pottion of the tax thus assessed has been already vaid by _the petitioners. It cannot now be disputed that this payment was made under a mistake within s. 72 of the
Indian Contract Act and so the Government to whom the payment has been made by mistake must in law repay it. The question is whether the relief of repayment has to be 10ught by the tax-payer by an action in a civil court or
whether such an order can be made by the High Court in exercise of its jurisdiction under Art. 226 of the Constitu- tion. The jurisdiction conferred by Art. 226 is in very wide terms.
This Article empowers the High Court to give relief by way of enforcement of fundamental rights and other· rights by issuing directions, orders or writs, including writs in the nature of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibi-
tiol"., quo warranto and certiorari. According to the peti- tioners a writ in the nature of mandamus can be appro- pnately used where r. oney has been paid to the Govern- ment by mistake to give relief by commanding repayment
[rg64] of the same. That in a number of cases the High Courts Stat• of Mad~ya have used the writ of mandamus to enforce such repay- PradtJh ment is not disputed. In a recent case in Firm Mehtab
Bhailal Bhai Majid & Co., v. The State of Madras(') this Court made, DOI Gupta 1. in a petition under Art. 32, an order for refund of tax illegally collected from the petitioner under Rille 16 of the Madras General Sales Tax (Turnover and Assessment)
Rules, 1939. The queotion whether the Court has this power to order refund was not however raised there. In Sales Tax Officer, · Banaras v. Kcmhaiya Lal Mukundlal Saraf(') the appellants disputed the correctness of the High Court's order made in an application under Art. 226 of the Constitution directing refund of taxes that had been paid
under the U.P. Sales Tax Act on the respondent's forward transactions in silver bullion. After the levy of sales tax on such transactions was held to be ultra vires by the High Court of Allahabad the respondent asked for refund of the
tax paid and when that was refused he applied to the High Court under Art. 226 of the Constitution for a writ of certiorari for quashing the assessment orders and a writ of mandamus requiring the appellants to refund the amount
illegally collected. The order made in this case by the High Court for refund was affirmed by this Court in appeal. In this case also the power of the High Court to order such refund was not challenged either before the High Court or
before this Court. We see no reason to think that the High Courts have not got this power. If a right has been infringed-whether a fundamental right or a statutory right-and the aggrieved party comes to the court for enforcement of the right it
will not be giving complete relief if the court merely de- clares the existence of such right or the fact that that exist- ing right has been infringed. Where there has been only a threat to infringe the right, an order
commanding the Government or other statutory authority not to take the action contemplated would be sufficient. It has been held by this Court that where there has been a threat only and
the right has not been actually infringed an application (') A.LR. 1963 S.C. 928. (') [1959] S.C.R. 1350. 6 S.C.R. under Art. 226 would lie and the courts would give neces- llary relief by making an order in the nature of injunction. State of Mad/ry• It will hardly be reasonable to say that while the court will PradtJh
grant relief by such command in the nature of an order of Bhailal. Bhai injunction where the invasion of a right -has been merely threatened the court must still refuse, where the right has Du GupttJ J,
been actually invaded, to give the consequential relief and content itself with merely a declaration that the right exists and has been invaded or with merely quashing the illegal
order made. For the reasons given above, we are clearly of opinion that the High Courts have power for the 1;:mrpose of en- forcement of fundamental rights and statutory rights to
give consequential relief by ordering repayment of money realised by the Government without the authority of Jaw: At the same time we cannot lose sight of the fact that the special remedy provided in Art. 226 is not intended to supersede completely the modes of obtaining relief by an
action in a civil court or to deny defences legitimately open in such actions. It has been made clear more than once that the power to give relief under Art. 226 is a discretion- ary power.
This is specially true in the case of power to issue writs in the nature of mandamus. Among the several matters which the High Courts rightly take inb considera- tion in the exercise of that discretion is the delay made by the aggrieved party in seeking this special remedy and what excuse there is for it.
Another is the nature of controversy of facts and law that may have to be decided as regards the availability of consequential relief. Th:.is, where, ns in these cases, a person comes to the Court for relief under
Art. 226 on the allegation that he has been a~sessed to tax under a void legislation and having paid it under a mistake is entitled to get it back, the court, if it finds that the assess- ment was void, being made under a void provision of law,
and the payment was made by mistake, is still not bound to exercise .its discretion directing repayment. Whetlrer repayment should be ordered in the exercise of this discre- tion will depend in each case on its own facts and circum- stances. It is not easy nor is it desirable to lay down any rule for universal application.
It may however be stated 1'64 as a general rule that if there has been unreasonable delay State of Madhya th~ court ou8?t not ordinarily to lend its aid to a party by Prad<JA this extraordinary remedy of mandamus.
Again, where Bhai/a~· JJhai even if there is . no sue~ delay the Government or the statutory authonty agamst whom the consequential relief Dtu Gupllr J. is prayed for raises a prima facie triable issue as regards the availability of such relief on the merits on grounds
like limitation, the Court should ordinarily refuse to issue the writ of mandamus for such payment. In "clth these kinds of cases it will be sound use of discretion to leave the party to seek his remedy by the ordinary mode of action in a civil court and to refuse to exercise in his favour the
extraordinary remedy under Art. 226 of the Constitution. The prayer for refund has been allowed by the High Court in the applications out of which Civil Appeal Nos. 362-377 of 1962 and Civil Appeal Nos. 861-867 of
1962 and Civil Appeal No. 25 of 1963 have arisen. It appears that the tax ,provisions under which these taxes had been assessed and paid was declared void by the High Court of Madhya Pradesh in their decision in Mohammad
Siddique v. The State of Madhya Pradesh on January 17, 1956. Later, on August 27, 1957 the Appellate Autho- rity, Sales Tax, i.ri Madhya Bharat made an order relying on the High Court's decision mentioned above.
The petitio- ners claim to have discovered their mistake in making the payments afrer they came to know of these decisions. It is reasonable to think however that the petitioners must
have discovered their mistake as soon as the High Court's decision in the case of Mohammad Siddique v. The Statt: of Madhya Pradesh dated January 17, 1956 became known to them. All these 16 applications were made within less
than three years from the 17th January, 1956. The High Court has taken the view that this was not unreasonable delay and in that view has ordered refund. This appears to us to be a sound and judicial exerciSe of discretion with which this Court ought not to interfere.
It may be added th~t n:J triable issue as regards the availability of this conse- quential relief was raised before the High Court nor has any been suggested before us The order of refund mado
ti S.C.R. 1'164 by the High Court in these cases cannot therefore be dis- t11rheti. State of Madhya Pradesh The position in Civil Appeal Nos. 861 to 867 of 1962 is however different. The applications out of which these
appeals have arisen were made in September 1959, i.e., about three years and eight months after January 17, 1956 when the High Court of Madhya Pradesh gave their deci- sion declaring the tax provisions in question to be void,
It was necessary for the High Court to consider this question of delay before any order for refund was made. It does not appear however that any attention was paid to this question.
In making the orders for refund in each of these cases the High Court merely said this:- '"The present case is governed by Bhailai Bhai's Case (1960 M.P.C. 304). Learned Govern- ment Advocate formally raised the questiOn of
the remedy open to the petitioner for refund of tax in order to keep the point open in the Supreme Court. . We accordingly allow this petition and issue a writ directing the oppo-
nents to refund to the applicant firm the amount of tax collected from it during the above-mentioned period." The learned Judges appear to have failed to notice that tile delay in -these petitions was more than the delay in the petition made in Bhailal Bhai's case out of which Civil
Appeal No. 362 of 1962 has arisen. On behalf of the res- pondents-petitioners in these appeals (C.A. Nos. 861 to 867 of 1962) Mr. Andley has argued that the delay in these cases even is not such as would justify refusal of the order for refund.
He argued that assuming that the remedy of recovery by action in a civil court stood barred on the date these applications were made that would be no reason to refuse relief under Art. 226 of the Constitution.
Learned counsel is right in his submission that the provisions of the Limitation Act do not as such apply to the granting of relief under Art. 226. It appears to us however that the
maximum period fixed by the legislature as the time within which the relief by a suit in a civil court must be brought tU-t'9 S.C. 18 v. Bhailal Bhai Dtu '1-upta J. !!!!_ may ordinarily be taken to be a reasonable standard by
St•ll of Madhya wluch delay in seeking remedy under Art. 226 can be Prndesh measured. The Court may consider the delay unreason- •uilal Bhai at>le even if it is less than the period of limitation prescribe<l lier GNptd J.
for a civil action for the remedy but where the delay is more than tlus period, it will almost always be proper ror the court to hold that it is unreasonable. The period ot limitation prescribed for recovery of money paid by mistake under the Limitation Act is three years from the date when che mistake is known.
If the mistake was known in these cases on or shortly after January 17, 1956 the delay m making these applications should be considered unreason- able. lf, on the other hand, as Mr. Andley seems to argue, the mistake was discovered much later, this would be a
controversial fact which cannot conveniently be decided in writ proceedings. In either view of the matter we are of opinion the orders for refund made by the High Court U. these seven cases cannot be sustained.
The application out of which Civil Appeal No. 25 of 1963 has arisen was also made in 1958, that is, within less than three years from the date of the High Court's decision in Mohammad Siddique v. The State of Madhya PradesJi.
The High Court was therefore right in stating in its judg- ment in this case that it is governed by Bhai/al Bhai's case. We see no reason to interfere with the order for • .;fund made by the High Court in this case.
In the result, Civil Appeals Nos. 861 to 867 of 1962 are allowed in part and the orders for refund made in those cases are set aside. The petitioners will be at liberty to seek such relief as they may be entitled to in a civil court, if it be not ban-ed by limitation.
There will be no order as to costs in these cases. In two other appeals, viz., Civil Appeal Nos. 28 and 29 of 1962, the respondents have not appeared; so there will be no order as to costs in them.
In the other appeals which are dismissed, the appel- lant will pay costs to the respondents. One hearing fee for all these appeals. Appeals Nos. 861-867 partly allowed, other app:itls
dismissed.