MALIK MUHAMMAD QAYYUM, J- The petitioners are whole-sale dealers in vegetables and are running their business in Sabzi Mandi Okara while respondent No.3 is the District Council Okara constituted under the Punjab Local Government Ordinance 1979. Respondent Nos.4 and 5 are the contractors to whom the rights to collect the export tax have been leased out by respondent No.3 for the year 1989-90.
2. There is no dispute between the parties that the goods being exported out of District Okara are subject to payment of export tax in accordance with the schedule notified by the District Council for the years 1989-90 which inter-alia provides for the levy of export tax on potatoes at the rate of Rs.100/- per truck and Rs.50/- per wagon/trolley. The case of the petitioner is that on the strength of the above mentioned schedule the respondents can charge tax on per truck or trolley basis irrespective of the weight being carried by the vehicle. Respondents No.4 and 5 who are the contractors, on the other had, contended that with the standard weight carried by the truck is 270 maunds and any weight in excess thereof is liable to be separately charged.
3. The stand taken by the petitioner that the export tax can be charged only on per truck basis irrespective of the weight being carried by it has not been disputed by the Sila Council. On the other had, in para 10 of the written statement it has been admitted that the contractors are only entitled to charge export on per truck and not per bag basis. In view of this admission, the contractors cannot justifiably claim that they are entitled to charge the export tax on the basis of the weight being carried by the vehicle.
Be that as it may the precise question is involved in this petition was considered by this Court in Omar-uz-Zaman v. Zila Council Bahawalpur (NLR 1990 Taxation 17) wherein it was held by my learned brother Mian Allah Nawaz, J., that:- "Guided by this salutary principle, I have no doubt in my mind that the meaning of truck given in the different provisions of Motor Vehicles Ordinance cannot be engrafted into the Schedule of Export Tax. In schedule no meaning can be given to word 'truck' by the principle of reference. The Schedule being statute dealing with the tax cannot be given such extended interpretation. I, therefore, hold that a person is to be charged tax only if he comes within the clear view of the word used in the schedule itself. The truck in the schedule means a 'truck' given in the ordinary dictionary. The meaning given in the Chambers Dictionary latest edition are as follows:- "a small or solid wheel: air open railway wagon for goods: a trolley: a Bogie: a low flat barrow: a small two wheeled barrow with a turned-up front: a lorry: a cap at the top of a mast or flagstaff-vt.
To convey by truck."
Therefore, truck in schedule means a vehicle and does not mean the quantity of weight it is carrying."
This authority applies with full force and 1 am not persuaded to take a different view.
For the reasons aforesaid this petition is accepted and the declaration as prayed for by the petitioners are granted but with no order as to costs.