In Brief
Vasant Chemicals Limited, a chemical manufacturing company, challenged the levy of sewerage cess by the Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Though the company's premises were not directly connected to the Board's sewer line, its industrial effluents were treated at a common treatment plant (JETL) and then discharged into the Board's sewerage system. The Supreme Court upheld the statutory levy under Section 55 of the Act, holding that an occupier consuming the Board's water and ultimately discharging effluents into the Board's sewer system is liable to pay sewerage cess regardless of indirect connection. The Court rejected claims of double levy, distinguishing between statutory sewerage cess and contractual treatment charges. The appeal was dismissed with arrears to be paid within eight weeks.
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