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india-case-legal-rag

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1	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 6 PETITIONER: JANARDAN REDDY AND OTHERS Vs. RESPONDENT: THE STATE. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 14/12/1950 BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) FAZAL ALI, SAIYID SASTRI, M. PATANJALI MUKHERJEA, B.K. DAS, SUDHI RANJAN AIYAR, N. CHANDRASEKHARA CITA...	{ "chunk_index": 1, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
2	Constitution of India, Arts. 134, 136, 374(4)--Special leave to appeal--Judgment of Hyderabad High Court passed before 26th Jan. 1950--Application for special leave--Main- tainability--Pendency of application for leave to appeal to Judicial Committee of Hyderabad when new constitution came into force, e...	{ "chunk_index": 2, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
3	The petitioners, who were convicted and sentenced to death by a special tribunal in the Hyderabad State, preferred appeals to the High Court of Hyderabad which were dismissed, and the applied to the High Court on the 21st Jan., 1950, for leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of Hyderabad a...	{ "chunk_index": 3, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
4	India, the Judicial Committee of Hyderabad ceased exist, and all appealls and other proceedings pending before that 941 Committee stood transferred to the Supreme Court of India. The applications of the petitioners were amended so as to make them applications under Art. 134 of the Ccnstitution, but they were di...	{ "chunk_index": 4, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
5	under Art. 136 of the Constitution for special leave to appeal: Held that, inasmuch as Art. 136 confers power on the Supreme Court to grant special leave to appeal only from any	{ "chunk_index": 5, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
6	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 6 judgment, decree, sentence or order passed or made by "any court or tribunal in the territory of India," and the Hyd- erabad High Court was not a Court in the territory of India when the judgments in question were pronounced the Supreme Court had no jurisdi...	{ "chunk_index": 6, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
7	and to confer a right of appeal inferentially, merely be- cause the petitioners had a right to appeal to the Judicial Committee of Hyderabad when the Constitution came into force and they had been deprivecd of this right by the abolition of that Committee without making a provision enabling them to appeal to th...	{ "chunk_index": 7, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
8	special leave to appeal to the Supreme Court from the orders of the High Court of Judicature at Hydrabad dated 12th, 13th and 14th Dccember, 1949, dismissing the appeals prcferred by the petitioners against orders of the Special Tribunal of Hyderabad convicting them of murder and sentencing them to death. The m...	{ "chunk_index": 8, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
9	Charan Singh and A.S. R. Chari, with him) for the petition- ers. M.C. Setalvad, Attorney-General for India, and Raja Ram Iyer (G. N. Joshi, with them) for the respondent. 1950. December 14. The Judgment of the Court was deliv- ered by KANIA C.J.---These are three criminal miscellaneous Kan petitions ask...	{ "chunk_index": 9, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
10	Communist Party wedded to the policy of overthrowing the existing Government at Hyderabad by violence and establish- ing in its place a communist regime. It is alleged that they demanded subscriptions towards their communist organi- zation and some of the villagers who did not meet their demands were a...	{ "chunk_index": 10, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
11	the regulations promulgated by the Military Governor under the :authority of H.E. 'H. the Nizam and convicted and sentenced to death on the 9th, 13th and 14th of August, 1949, by separate judgments. The petitioners appealed from those judgments to the Hyderabad High Court and the High Court,by its ju...	{ "chunk_index": 11, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
12	appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Hyderabad State on the 21st of January, 1950. It appears that H.E.H. the Nizam issued a firman on the 23rd of November, 1949, stating that the proposed Constitution of India was suitable for the government of Hyderabad and he accepted it as the Constitu- tion of the Hy...	{ "chunk_index": 12, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
13	India and the Part B States. 'the petitions originally filed	{ "chunk_index": 13, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
14	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 6 for a certificate for leave to appeal to the Judicial Com- mittee of the Privy Council of the Hyderabad State were, by leave of the Court, amended, and made into petitions under article 134 of the Constitution of India. A Division Bench of the High Court at...	{ "chunk_index": 14, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
15	no case was made out for a certificate as asked by the peti- tioners. The petitioners have now filed their petitions to this Court under 943 article 136 of the Constitution of India, for special leave to appeal from the judgments of the High Court dated the 12th, 13th and 14th of December, 1949. Two questions a...	{ "chunk_index": 15, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
16	the second is, whether on a consideration of the facts, if it has jurisdiction to entertain the petitions, the Court should grant special leave. The first question depends on the construction of the relevant articles in the Constitu- tion of India. Under article 374 (4) on and from the com- mencement of ...	{ "chunk_index": 16, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
17	pose of appeals and petitions from or in respect of any judgment, decree or order of any court within that State ceased, and all appeals and other proceedings pending before the said authority at such commencement stand transferred to and have to be disposed of by the Supreme Court. This sub- clause thus abo...	{ "chunk_index": 17, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
18	ceased. On the facts before us, it is clear that as no proceeding or appeal in respect of these judgments of the Hyderabad High Court was pending before the Hyderabad Privy Council before its abolition, nothing got transferred to the Supreme Court by operation of this subclause. It was argued on behalf o...	{ "chunk_index": 18, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
19	to the Privy Council of the Hyderabad State. In fact such petitions were pending on that day. It was therefore argued that a right to appeal which existed on the 25th of January, 1950, cannot be impliedly taken away by the Constitution of India being made applicable to the State of Hyderabad. It was pointed ou...	{ "chunk_index": 19, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
20	as also persons whose petitions were pending before the Hyderabad High Court asking for such certificates and which had not been disposed of because of the congestion of work in the High Court would lose their right to appeal to the higher court if article 136 is not construed so as to give a right of appe...	{ "chunk_index": 20, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
21	136 it will not only permit persons who are stated to be under such hardship to apply for leave under article 136 but several other rights will be created. Such rights will arise not only in criminal cases but in civil cases also and they can be exercised without any limitation as to the period within w...	{ "chunk_index": 21, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
22	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 6 Moreover, on the wider construction of article 136, judg- ments which had become final in those States in which there existed no court like the Privy Council to whom appeals could lie from the judgments of their High Courts, x,viIi be subject to appeal th...	{ "chunk_index": 22, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
23	petitioners. It was strenuously urged that this is a wrong approach to the question altogether. Articles of the Con- stitution have to be construed according to their plain natural meaning and cases of hardship should not be brought to bear on the natural construction. Hard cases should not be permitted to...	{ "chunk_index": 23, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
24	meaning of the words used in the Constitution. It is there- fore proper to approach the articles irrespective of consid- erations of hardship. In order to decide whether on the facts of this case, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to grant special leave, it is necessary only to consider articles 133, 134, 13...	{ "chunk_index": 24, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
25	from High Courts in civil matters. Under article 134, it is provided that an appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court from any judgment, final order or sentence in a criminal proceed- ing of a High Court in the territory of India if the High Court......... (then follow three contingencies under which such appeals c...	{ "chunk_index": 25, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
26	not apply. It is there provided that until Parliament by law otherwise provides, the Supreme Court shall also have jurisdiction and powers with respect to any matter to which the provisions of article 133 or 134 do not apply, if juris- diction and powers in relation to that matter were exercisa- ble by the Fede...	{ "chunk_index": 26, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
27	to exercise jurisdiction in cases which were not covered by articles 133 and 134, in respect of matters where the Feder- al Court had jurisdiction to entertain appeals etc. from the High Courts under the previously existing law. This is obviously a provision to vest in the Supreme Court the jurisdiction en...	{ "chunk_index": 27, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
28	entertain appeals from High Courts, except those which were already pending before it on the 10th October 1949, was taken away by this Act. Provision had therefore to be made in respect of appeals which were already pending or which were not covered by the provisions of articles 133 and 134. Article 136 of...	{ "chunk_index": 28, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
29	leave to appeal from any judgment, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any Court or tribunal in the territory of India." 121 946 (2) ............." The expression "territory of India" is defined in arti-	{ "chunk_index": 29, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
30	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 6 cle 1 in these terms "1. The territory of India shall comprise (a) the territories of the States (meaning the States mentioned in Parts A, B and C of the First Schedule), (b) the territories specified in Part D of the First Schedule, (viz., T...	{ "chunk_index": 30, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
31	present case the Supreme Court can grant special leave to appeal from a judgment, sentence or order which was passed and made by the Hyderabad High Court before 26th January, 1950. The important fact to be borne in mind is that the Hyderabad courts were not courts within the. territory of India when they...	{ "chunk_index": 31, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
32	valuable rights of appeal which had existed in persons in the position of petitioners when the Constitution of India was directed by H.E.H. the Nizam by his firman to be ap- plicable to the Hyderabad State on the 26th of January, 1950, it should be held that as no substantive right was provided in the...	{ "chunk_index": 32, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
33	Attorney General that every legislation is primarily prospective and not retrospective. A right of appeal has to be given specifically by a statute and it is not merely a procedural right. If therefore there exists no right of appeal under the Constitution such right cannot be inferen- tially held t...	{ "chunk_index": 33, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
34	Cloth and General Mills Ltd. v. Income Tax Commissioner, Delhi & Another(1) and The Colonial Sugar Refining Co. Ltd. v. Irving(2). (1) 54 I.A. 421. (2,) [1905] A. C. 369. 947 In our opinion, the contention of the Attorney general on this point is correct. There appears no reason why in th...	{ "chunk_index": 34, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
35	be put by the State on' article 136 will require the insertion of the word "hereafter" in the clause, for which there was no justification. We are unable to accept this contention because, prima facie, every legislation is prospective and even without the use of the word "hereafter" the language ...	{ "chunk_index": 35, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
36	State in the sense that no court in India or the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London had any jurisdiction over the decisions of the Hyderabad State Courts. To give the Supreme Court of India jurisdiction over the decisions of courts of such a state, one requires specific provi...	{ "chunk_index": 36, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
37	provision of that kind. There appear to us also no such necessary circumstances which on reasonable construction should be treated as impliedly giving such right of appeal. Indeed the words "territory of India" lead to a contrary conclusion. Under the words used in article 136 the -courts which ...	{ "chunk_index": 37, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
38	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 6 of 6 Government of H.E.H. the Nizam was never the territory of India before the 26th of January, 1950, and therefore the judgment and sentence passed by the High Court of H.E.H. the Nizam on the 12th, lath and 14th December, 1949, cannot be considered as judg...	{ "chunk_index": 38, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
39	It was argued by Mr. Pritt on behalf of the petitioners that if such construction were put, the territory of the Province of Bombay also may be excluded from 948 the operation of article 136. The answer however is that a right to file an appeal from the judgments of the High Court at Bombay in both civil an...	{ "chunk_index": 39, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
40	1950. Such right of appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which previously existed, was transferred to the Federal Court by the appropriate legislation and eventu- ally by article 135 to the Supreme Court. Therefore by the interpretation, which we think is the proper interpretation of article 136...	{ "chunk_index": 40, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
41	in article 136 which can bear a wider meaning a right to apply for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court is given in respect of decisions not only of High Courts but of other tribunals also. That larger right, if it did not exist before the 26th January, 1950, can be legitimately construed as newly confer...	{ "chunk_index": 41, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
42	these matters before us by the High Court of Hyderabad, which was in the territory of H.E.H. the Nizam and which territory was not the territory of India before the 26th of January, 1950, and as those judgments were passed before the Constitution came into force they do not fall. within the class of judgme...	{ "chunk_index": 42, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
43	135 of the Constitution of India. In our opinion this Court has therefore no jurisdiction to entertain these petitions for special leave to appeal against such judgments of the High Court of Hyderabad under Article 136 of the Constitution. Cases like those of the petitioners are thus not covered by articl...	{ "chunk_index": 43, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
44	such relief in the Constitution cannot be remedied by the Supreme Court and assumption of jurisdiction which is not warranted by the clear words of articles 134, 135 or 136 will be tantamount to making legislation by the Supreme Court which it is never its function to do. The petitions, under the circums...	{ "chunk_index": 44, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf", "total_pages": 6 }
45	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 7 PETITIONER: RAM KRISHNA RAMNATH AGARWALOF KAMPTEE Vs. RESPONDENT: SECRETARY, MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE,KAMPTEE.UNION OF INDIA AND GO DATE OF JUDGMENT: 14/03/1950 BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) FAZAL ALI, SAIYID SASTRI, M. PATANJALI M...	{ "chunk_index": 1, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
46	Government of India Act, 1935, es. 100, 143, 292; Sch. VII, List 1, Entry 45; List 11, Entry 49--Central Excises and Salt Act (1 of 1944, es. 2, 3--Central Provinces Munici- palities Act (11 of 1922), s. 66 (1) (e)--Import of tobacco within municipality .for manufacturing bidis--Tobacco liable to Central ex...	{ "chunk_index": 2, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
47	ties Act, 1922, empowered municipalities within the Province to levy an octroi duty on goods brought within their limits for sale, consumption or use within those limits. Section 3 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, an Act of the Central Legislature, provided that there shall be levied and collected dutie...	{ "chunk_index": 3, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
48	question being whether a municipality situated in the Cen- tral Provinces could levy octroi duty on tobacco brought within its limits for the purpose of manufacturing bidis, in view of the exclusive power of the Central Government to levy excise duty under Entry 45 of List I of the Seventh Schedule to t...	{ "chunk_index": 4, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
49	different in their nature and the power of the Province to levy octroi was not inconsistent with the power of the Centre to levy excise duty on the some goods, and a munici- pality could therefore validly levy an octroi duty on such tobacco under s. 66 (1)(e) of the Central Provinces Munici- palities Act of...	{ "chunk_index": 5, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
50	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 2 of 7 palities Act or to the levy of octroi duty under the same and s. 143 of the Government of India Act, therefore, pre- served the right of the municipality to levy octroi duty under the Act of 1922. Province of Madras v. Boddu Paidanna and Sons [194...	{ "chunk_index": 6, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
51	[1939] F.C.R. 80, Miss Kishori Sherry v. The King [1949] F.C.R. 650 referred to. Administrator, Lahore Municipality v. Daulat Ram [1942] F.C.R. 31 distinguished. Judgment of the High Court of Nagpur affirmed. JUDGMENT: APPEAL from the High Court of Judicature at Nagpur: Case No. III of 1948. This was an...	{ "chunk_index": 7, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
52	Central Provinces Municipalities Act (11 of. 1922) by the Extra Assistant Commissioner, Nagpur. The facts of the case and the arguments of counsel appear in the judgment. T.J. Kedar and B.B. Tawakley (Sir Narain Andley with them) for the appellant. Lobo, for the respondent. M. C. Setalvad, Attorney-Gen...	{ "chunk_index": 8, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
53	order of the High Court at Nagpur, made on a reference under Section 83 (2) of the Central Provinces Municipalities Act 11 of 1922, by the EXtra Assistant Commissioner, Nagput. The appellant is a trader in Kamptee who manufactures bidis. On the 30th of November, 1945, he brought to Kamptee from outside tobacco...	{ "chunk_index": 9, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
54	3, had been brought for use and consumption within the limits of the Municipality. He however put on record his protest against the recovery of the duty which was fixed at Rs. 1,128-2-0. Against the order claiming the amount, the appellant filed an appeal to the Extra Assistant Commission- er with revenue...	{ "chunk_index": 10, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
55	no right to do so as under Section 3 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, that excise duty was levied on tobacco by the Central Government and the levy of the octroi duty on the tobacco in question was covered by the excise duty and therefore not permissible. The Appellate Assistant Commis- sioner in mak...	{ "chunk_index": 11, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
56	was not leviable, was unsound. He however thought that because under Section a of the Excise Act, excise duty was levied by the Central Government the levy of the octroi duty was 'not in consonance with Section 100 of the Government of India Act, 1935, and was ultra vires the Provincial Govern- ment. The High ...	{ "chunk_index": 12, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
57	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 3 of 7 disagreed with the view of the Appellate Commissioner. The High Court however granted a certificate under Section 205 (1) of the Constitution Act and the appellant has come in appeal to this Court. The Central Provinces Municipalities Act was passed i...	{ "chunk_index": 13, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
58	issued in pursuance thereof has been raised before us. The argument on behalf of the appellant is that as under the Central Excises and Salt Act, I of 1944, tobacco became excisable goods under Item 9 in Schedule I to that Act and continued to be so till it got converted into bidis, the Central Governm...	{ "chunk_index": 14, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
59	the manufacture of bidis and therefore any tax imposed, while tobacco was being converted into bidis, was excise duty. Legislation in connection with excise duty is within the exclusive province of the Central Legislature as shown by Entry 45 of List I in Schedule VII of the Constitution Act. The impost...	{ "chunk_index": 15, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
60	connection our attention was drawn to Administrator Lahore Municipality v. Daulat Ram Kapur(1), in which it was held that the levy of octroi duty on salt was not within the powers of the Provincial legislature. It was argued there- fore that under Section 100 of the Government of India Act, octroi duty le...	{ "chunk_index": 16, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
61	Entry 49 in List II of the Seventh Schedule, was to read the words "for consumption or use" in Entry 49 as meaning for consumption or use except for manufacture of excisable articles". So read, the levy of octroi duty on the facts of this case was invalid. In reply to the argument that Sec- tion 292 of th...	{ "chunk_index": 17, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
62	under Section 143 of the Constitution Act, it was urged on behalf of the appellant that the. provisions of the Excise Act were contrary to the right to levy octroi duty and as that Act was passed in 1944 the right to levy octroi duty saved by Section 148 of the Constitution Act had lapsed. It was argued tha...	{ "chunk_index": 18, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
63	the charging Section 3 in the Act led to that conclusion. It is clear that both parts of this argument are thus based on the plea that the impost of any duty at any stage before bidis are manufactured is excise duty and therefore the levy of octroi duty is illegal. Section 66 (1) (e) of the Central Provinces ...	{ "chunk_index": 19, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
64	The words "excisable goods" and. " manufacture '' are defined in Section 2 of the Central Excises and Salt Act,, 1944,. as follows .--.' (1) [1942] F.C.R. 91 . 19 2. (d) "excisable goods" means goods specified in the	{ "chunk_index": 20, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
65	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 4 of 7 First Schedule as being subject to a duty of excise and includes salt;" 2. (f) "manufacture" includes any process incidental or ancillary to the completion of a manufactured product; and (i) in relation to tobacco includes the preparation of cigare...	{ "chunk_index": 21, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
66	"There shall be levied and collected in such manner as may be prescribed duties of excise on all excisable goods other than salt which are produced or manufactured in Brit- ish India, and a duty on salt manufactured in, or imported by land into any part of British India as, and at the rates, set forth in th...	{ "chunk_index": 22, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
67	uncured, and whether manufactured or not,and includes the leaf, stalks and stem of the tobacco plant but does not include any part of a tobacco plant while still attached to the earth;" (Then follows a list of various articles into which tobacco can be converted, like bidis, cigarettes, snuff,etc. with dif...	{ "chunk_index": 23, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
68	"143. (1) Nothing in the foregoing provisions. of this Chapter affects any duties or taxes levied in any Federated State otherwise than by virtue of an Act of the Federal Legislature applying in the State. (2) Any taxes, duties, cesses or fees which, immedi- ately before the commencement of Part III...	{ "chunk_index": 24, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
69	poses of the Province, municipality, district or other local area under a law in force on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and thirty-five, may, notwithstanding that those taxes, duties, cesses or lees are mentioned in the Federal Legislative List, continue to be levied and to be applied to the ...	{ "chunk_index": 25, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
70	Government of India Act, but subject to the other provisions of this Act, all the law in force in British India immedi- ately before the commencement of Part III of this Act shall continue in force in British India until altered or repealed or amended by a competent legislature or other competent authority." ...	{ "chunk_index": 26, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
71	powers of the Centre, by reason of the inclusion of such tax in List I of the Seventh Schedule, the pre-existing right of the Provincial Government to levy such tax remained unaf- fected. If so, Section 143 of the Government of India Act did not affect such legislation and the same continued to be valid and oper...	{ "chunk_index": 27, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
72	legislative power of the Centre by reason of such tax being included in List I of the Seventh Schedule, the levy of such tax under the Provincial legislation continued to be valid	{ "chunk_index": 28, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
73	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 5 of 7 until the Central Legislature passed an Act the provisions whereof were contrary to the provisions of the Provincial legislature or to the levy of a tax under the Provincial Act. Examining next the contentions of the appellant it seems clear that o...	{ "chunk_index": 29, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
74	therefore, there is no reason, to 21 consider the levy of the octroi duty under the Provincial legislation invalid. Such levy remained unaffected by reason of Section 292 of the Constitution Act. The argument of the appellant is that the levy of the octroi duty being at a stage after the excisable article,...	{ "chunk_index": 30, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
75	from tobacco, is invalid. In support of this argument the definition of 'excisable goods', 'manufacture' and the Entry 9 in the Schedule to that Act were relied upon. The error underlying the argument of the appellant is the assumption that any impost of tax from the time tobacco came into existence till...	{ "chunk_index": 31, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
76	of Madras v. Boddu Paidanna and Sons(1). It is there ob- served as follows:--"Plainly, a tax levied on the first sale must, in the nature of things, be a tax on the sale by the manufacturer or producer; but it is levied upon him qua seller and not qua manufacturer or producer. It may well be that 'a manuf...	{ "chunk_index": 32, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
77	duty of excise, there may no doubt be overlapping in one sense, but there is no overlapping in law. The two taxes which he is called on to pay are economically two separate and distinct imposts. There is, in theory, nothing to prevent the Central Legislature from imposing a duty of excise on a com...	{ "chunk_index": 33, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
78	of manufacture which attracts the duty even though 'it may be collected later. In the case of a sales tax, the liabil- ity to tax arises on the occasion of a sale and a sale has no necessary connection with manufacture or production." The Court further observed that in the Constitution Act the whole (1) [1942...	{ "chunk_index": 34, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
79	the Centre and the Provinces, to the one being assigned the power to impose duties of excise, to the other taxes on the sale of goods. It is natural enough, when considering the ambit of an express power in relation to an unspecified residuary power, to give a broad interpretation to the former at the ...	{ "chunk_index": 35, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
80	terms. There can be no reason in such a case for giving a broader interpretation to one power rather than to the other; and there is certainly no reason for extending the meaning of the expression "duties of excise" at the expense of the Provincial power to levy taxes on the sale of goods. In The Gover...	{ "chunk_index": 36, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
81	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 6 of 7 Madras (1), the Judicial Committee approved of the distinc- tion drawn in this case between the excise duty and a tax on sale. There the question arose in respect of tax on the sale of excisable goods. Their Lordships observed as fol- lows :--" An exhaust...	{ "chunk_index": 37, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
82	in the judgment of the Federal Court in Re The Central Provinces and Berar Act No. XIV of 1938(2). Consistently with this decision their Lordships are of opinion that a duty of excise is primarily a duty levied on a manufacturer or producer in respect of the commodity manufactured or produced. It i...	{ "chunk_index": 38, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
83	of the Federal Court in Boddu Paidann case (3). The two taxes, the one levied on a manufacturer in respect of his goods, the other on a vendor in respect of his sales, may,as is there pointed out, in one sense overlap. But in law there is no overlapping. The taxes are separate and (1) [1942] F.C.R. 129...	{ "chunk_index": 39, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
84	finds it convenient to impose that duty at the moment when the excisable article leaves the factory or workshop for the first time on the occasion of its sale. But that method of collecting the tax is an accident of administration; it is not of the essence of the duty of excise, which is attracted by the manufa...	{ "chunk_index": 40, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
85	of excise. In such cases there appears to be no reason why the Provincial legislature should not impose a duty of excise in respect of the commodity manufactured and then a tax on first or other sales of the same commodity. Whether or not such a course is followed appears to be merely a matter of adm...	{ "chunk_index": 41, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
86	cial legislature impose a tax on the sale of the same goods when manufactured." This discussion clearly shows that the relevant question is what is the nature of the tax. Excise duty is a tax on manufactured goods. Octroi duty is a tax levied on the entry of goods within a particular area. Under the Ex...	{ "chunk_index": 42, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
87	rate of tax. Therefore, tobacco becomes subject to excise duty when it reaches the stage of manufacture mentioned in Item 9 of the Schedule to the Excise Act. Even before it is converted into bidis or any other article mentioned in the entry it has become excisable goods and liable to pay excise duty. The lev...	{ "chunk_index": 43, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
88	ment under the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, Govern- ment retained control over the movement of the 24 goods from the beginning till the end. This argument is not of assistance in determining the nature of the octroi tax. As Government has to collect excise duty and the rate of	{ "chunk_index": 44, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
89	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 7 of 7 duty varies in respect of different shapes in which the excisable goods are ultimately converteD, there is nothing unnatural in the Government keeping a control and note of the articles till the manufactured article becomes a commod- ity, and is mixed up...	{ "chunk_index": 45, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
90	Constitution Act, Entry 49 should be read as "for consump- tion or use, except for manufacture of goods", in our opin- ion, is unsound. In the first place, the approach to the question itself is wrong. When a particular legislation falls within the exact words of an Entry in the Provincial List, under s...	{ "chunk_index": 46, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
91	Entry 31 of List II was rejected by us in Case No. 27 of 1949: Miss Kishori Shetty v. The King (1). In the present case if the question of the validity of the Provincial legislation arises, on the interpretation of Entry 49 in List II, it appears that the answer must be in favour of the validity of the...	{ "chunk_index": 47, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
92	"salt". A comparison with Entry 45 in List I shows dis- tinctly that Entry 45 is limited to excise duty and is not wide enough to cover tobacco or other goods generally for all purposes of legislation. The observations in that case therefore are not helpful to the appellant. On the second part of the c...	{ "chunk_index": 48, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
93	under the Provincial Act of 1922. There is no express provi- sion in the Excise Act contrary to the provisions of the Municipal Act. Unless, therefore, it is necessarily implied under the Excise Act, the levy of (1) [1949] F.C.R. 650 (1) [1942] F.C.R. 31 25 the octroi duty under the Municipal Act con...	{ "chunk_index": 49, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
94	out 01 tobacco would be the levy of the excise duty and therefore those provisions were contrary to the provisions permitting the levy of the octroi duty. We have already discussed and rejected in the first part of the judgment this contention. It is wrong to think that two independent imposts arisin...	{ "chunk_index": 50, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
95	to the provisions of Section 66 (1) (e) of the Central Provinces Municipalities Act or to the levy of octroi duty under the same. The appeal therefore fails and is dismissed with costs. Appeal dismissed. Agent for the appellants: Rajinder Narain. Agent for the respondent: S.P. Varma. Agent for the Union of...	{ "chunk_index": 51, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880102.pdf", "total_pages": 7 }
96	http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 19 PETITIONER: PANNALAL JANKIDAS Vs. RESPONDENT: MOHANLAL AND ANOTHER. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 21/12/1950 BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) BENCH: KANIA, HIRALAL J. (CJ) SASTRI, M. PATANJALI DAS, SUDHI RANJAN CITATION: 1951 AIR 144 1950 SCR 979 ACT: ...	{ "chunk_index": 1, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880104.pdf", "total_pages": 19 }
97	Ordinance, 1944, ss. 14,18--Ordinance grantinq compensa- tion for damage by explosion-Loss by explosion not covered by policy--Loss of compensation under Ordinance by failure to insure---Whether direct or remote damaqe--Claim by prin- cipal against agent, whether barred by Ordinance--Indian Contract Act, 1...	{ "chunk_index": 2, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880104.pdf", "total_pages": 19 }
98	a portion of the goods in a godown in Bombay pending receipt of a permit from the Government authorities for consigning the same to the defendants. Before the goods could be despatched, a big explosion occurred in the Bombay Harbour and the goods stored were destroyed either by the fire or the explosion....	{ "chunk_index": 3, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880104.pdf", "total_pages": 19 }
99	shall pay a compensation of 50 per cent. of the damage caused in respect of uninsured goods, and the entire damage in respect of insured goods; and (ii) that no person shall have or be deemed ever to have had, otherwise than under the Ordinannce any rights whether in contract or in tort or otherwise to ...	{ "chunk_index": 4, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880104.pdf", "total_pages": 19 }
100	be maintainable in any civil courts. The plaintiffs re- ceived 50 per cent of the value of the destroyed goods as they 980 were not insured, and, alleging that as agents they had the right to be indemnified by the defendants, sued the latter for recovery of the remaining 50 per cent of the value of the g...	{ "chunk_index": 5, "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880104.pdf", "total_pages": 19 }

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Dataset Card for Indian legal documents (Chunked for RAG)

Dataset Details

Dataset Description

This dataset consists of Indian Supreme Court judgments extracted from publicly available court documents and processed into textual chunks suitable for Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) and legal information retrieval tasks.

Each document is split into semantically coherent text chunks and stored in a JSONL format with associated metadata such as source document name, chunk index, and total page count. The dataset is designed to support experimentation with legal-domain retrieval, embedding models, hybrid search (BM25 + dense), reranking, and downstream question-answering systems.

The content primarily includes:

Raw Supreme Court judgment text with case identifiers and party names embedded in the prose (e.g., petitioners, respondents, court name, dates, and citations where present)
Narrative descriptions of the factual background, as discussed within the judgment body
Judicial reasoning, legal analysis, and final holdings authored by the court

Getting Started

To help you get started with building legal domain assistants, we have implemented and evaluated several RAG architectures using this dataset — detailed in our Medium Article and available to explore in our GitHub repository.

You can use this dataset to experiment with the following strategies:

Baseline Retrieval: Utilizing standard Recursive Character Text Splitting (RCTS) for chunking paired with dense retrieval.
Summary Indexing: Generating and indexing summaries of the legal chunks to improve semantic matching and context capture.
Summary Indexing with Reranking: Enhancing the summary-based retrieval pipeline by applying a cross-encoder or reranker to reorder the top retrieved documents.
Contextual Embedding: Appending broader document-level context to individual chunks before generating embeddings to preserve legal nuance.
Contextual Embedding + Hybrid Retrieval: Combining contextual embeddings with sparse retrieval (e.g., BM25) to capture both semantic meaning and exact legal keyword matches.
Contextual Embedding + Reranking: Applying a final reranking step over the hybrid or dense results retrieved via contextual embeddings for maximum precision.

Dataset Sources

Source: Publicly available Supreme Court of India judgment documents

Uses

Direct Use

This dataset is suitable for:

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems in the legal domain
Dense and sparse retrieval benchmarking (BM25, embeddings, hybrid search)
Chunking strategy evaluation for long legal documents
Legal question answering and case law exploration
Legal NLP research and academic experimentation

Out-of-Scope Use

This dataset is not suitable for:

Providing legal advice or real-world legal decision-making
Training models intended to replace qualified legal professionals
Tasks requiring up-to-date or jurisdiction-wide legal completeness
Predictive legal analytics without further validation and augmentation

Dataset Structure

The dataset is stored in JSON Lines (.jsonl) format, where each line represents a single text chunk.

Fields

Each record contains the following fields:

id (int): Unique identifier for the chunk
text (string): Extracted text content from the judgment
metadata (object):
- source (string): Original PDF filename
- chunk_index (int): Position of the chunk within the document
- total_pages (int): Total number of pages in the source document

Example

{
  "id": 1,
  "text": "http://JUDIS.NIC.IN SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Page 1 of 6...",
  "metadata": {
    "source": "6482417cc33c75ac1d880101.pdf",
    "chunk_index": 1,
    "total_pages": 6
  }
}

References

@misc{india_case_legal_rag,
  author       = {Hruthika S, Ajinkya T},
  title        = {Indian Legal Corpus Dataset for RAG},
  publisher    = {DevDolphins / HuggingFace Hub},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/dedol-hf/india-case-legal-rag},
  version      = {1.0.0},
  note         = {Accessed: 2026-02-14}
}

For further details and context, please refer to:

Dataset Card Contact

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