JUDGMENT H.N. Seth Actg. C.J. - Petitioner. Ganga Saran is a dealer carrying on business within the territorial jurisdiction of Municipal Board Shamli, district Muzaffar Nagar. He also possesses licence under the Arms Act and the Opium Act of 1978 for dealing in sulphur and selling of opium. According to him, sulphur and opium, which includes `Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka', are articles which have been exempted by the Municipal Board, Shamli from levy of octroi duty. Despite this, the officers of the Municipal Board insist that the petitioner should pay octroi duty on sulphur and opium imported by him within the limits of Municipal Board, Shamli. He accordingly filed the present petition for relief under Article 226 of the Constitution and prayed for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents not to charge octroi duty on opium (in any form) and sulphur, from the petitioner, in future and also to refund the amount realised by them from him on this account in the past. 2. Municipal Board, Shamli has, in exercise of its power conferred by S. 128 of the Municipalities Act, published a rate schedule under S. 35(2) of the Act, wherein it has specified the rate of octroi duty in respect of various items brought within the Municipal limits and has classified them in ten categories. Thereafter the rate schedule has given a list of articles which have been exempted from the levy of octroi duty. Item No. 12 of the said list exempts `Arms' from levy of octroi duty. Likewise item No. 16 thereof exempts `opium, ganja, bhang, charas, mahuwa and matches' from levy of such duty. Contention of the petitioner is that inasmuch as he is required to obtain a licence under the Arms Act for dealing in sulphur, sulphur should be treated as `Arms' for purposes of item No. 12 of the list of exempted articles. He further claims that as the expression `opium' has been defined in the Opium Act as meaning `Poste Ka Dhodha as also Poste Ka Chhilka' as well, these articles would fall within the ambit of item No. 16 of the list of exempted articles. Accordingly not only the commodity which is commercially known as opium, but `Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka' brought by him within the Municipal limits of Shamli also stand exempted from levy of octroi duty. 3. Accordingly not only the commodity which is commercially known as opium, but `Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka' brought by him within the Municipal limits of Shamli also stand exempted from levy of octroi duty. 3. Respondent Municipal Board filed a counter-affidavit and contested the prayer made by the petitioner. According to the respondents, sulphur cannot be classified as an `Arm' for the purposes of item No. 12 of the list of articles exempted from levy of octroi duty. It also contended that it is not charging any octroi duty on import of `opium', made by the petitioner. It charges octroi duty only on `Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka' imported by the petitioner which according to it do not fall within the ambit of expression `opium' as used in item No. 16 of the list of exempted articles. The controversy in this regard, therefore, is as to whether or not Sulphur imported by the petitioner can be considered to be an `Arm' falling under item No. 12 of the list of exempted articles and whether `Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka' should be treated as articles falling within the ambit of the expression `opium' as used in item No. 16 of the said list. 4. Learned counsel for the petitioner has produced before us a copy of the Notification No. 3987/XXII-262-69 issued under S. 135(2) of the U.P. Municipalities Act, whereby Municipal Board of Shamli, district Muzaffar Nagar has, in exercise of the powers conferred by S. 128(i)(vii)(viii) of the Municipality Act, made certain amendments in the toll and octroi rate schedule published vide notification No. 2397/XXIII-239-(49-50), dated Dec. 6, 1951, and subsequently amended from time to time. A perusal of the said notification shows that for purposes of levy of octroi duty the Municipal Board classified various goods in ten different categories indicating the rate at which the octroi duty was to be levied in respect of such goods when brought within the territorial limits of the Municipal Board. Item No. 4 of category X mentions that all other articles and goods which are not shown in the schedule and are not exempted from octroi duty are to be subjected to octroi duty at the rate of 00.02 P. per rupee. Thereafter the schedule gives out a list of various articles which have been exempted from levy of octroi duty. Thereafter the schedule gives out a list of various articles which have been exempted from levy of octroi duty. It is significant to note that item No. 2 in category V of the said schedule specifically mentions that sulphur and Poste Ka Dhodha and Poste Ka Chhilka, are leviable with octroi duty at the rate of Rs. 2.00 per quintal. 5. Various entries appearing in the schedule of rates, are to be understood in normal commercial sense. In that sense `Sulphur' can never be considered to be an `Arm'. Merely because the petitioner is required to take out a licence for dealing in sulphur under the provisions of the Arms Act, it would not mean that sulphur becomes `Arm' for the purposes of item No. 12 of the list of exempted articles. Likewise it may be that for the purposes of the Opium Act, expression `opium' used therein may include within its ambit `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' as well but it would not mean that in the commercial sense as well `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' are considered to be `Opium'. In the context of the entry made at item No. 2 of category V in the list of articles on which octroi is leviable per the rate schedule and which specifically mentions that Sulphur as well as `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' are chargeable to octroi duty at the rate of Rs. 2.00 per quintal, it is obvious that the Municipal Board did not intend to equate these articles with `Arms' and `Opium' for purposes of items Nos. 12 and 16 of the list of articles exempted from levy of octroi duty. In case Sulphur, `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' were to be treated as `Arms' and `Opium' respectively, there would be absolutely no sense in including these two articles in item No. 2 of category V of the rate schedule and thereafter exempting them from payment of octroi duty by including them in the list of exempted articles. This clearly shows that the Municipal Board, while preparing the Schedule of rates, never intended to exempt Sulphur and `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' from payment of octroi duty by equating them with `Arms' and `Opium'. 6. This clearly shows that the Municipal Board, while preparing the Schedule of rates, never intended to exempt Sulphur and `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' from payment of octroi duty by equating them with `Arms' and `Opium'. 6. We are accordingly of opinion that having regard to the entries made in the rate schedule prepared by the Municipal Board Shamli, `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste ka Chhilka' are not `Opium'. Likewise sulphur is not an `Arm'. These articles, therefore, do not stand exempted from payment of octroi duty. Accordingly, action of the Municipal Board in requiring the petitioner to pay octroi duty on sulphur, `Poste Ka Dhodha' and `Poste Ka Chhilka' imported by him within the Municipal limits of Shamli does not suffer from any infirmity. 7. In the result, the petition fails and is dismissed. However, we make no order as to costs.