Allahabad High Court: Petitioner had filed this petition before a 2-Judge Bench comprising of Pankaj Mithal, and Ajit Kumar, JJ. against the respondent in requiring the payment of registration fees under the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
Petitioner was engaged in trade of sand and grits from outside the territory of U.P. Petitioner contended that he was not liable to pay registration fees under Indian Forest Act on the ground that issue before the Court was not res integra as the same was governed by a decision in case of Akansha Enterprises v. State of U.P., VSTI 2012 (Vol.13) B- 256 which was followed in case of Balaji Coal Supplier v. State of U.P., Writ Tax No. 1341 of 2012 where it was held that the insistence for registration and charging of registration fee was beyond the authority conferred upon the respondents under the Indian Forest Act, 1927 and the Rules of 1978. Whereas respondent failed to point any feature to distinguish the cases referred with the present case.
High Court followed the earlier judgment of division bench thereby allowing this writ petition in the same terms and directions as in the case of Akansha Enterprises. [Upadhyay Enterprises v. State of U.P.,2018 SCC OnLine All 2469, Order dated 02-11-2018]