Judgement

P. B. GAJENDRAGADKAR, J. : Civil Appeal No. 300 of 1956. The appellant Gordhandas Lalji had filed a petition in the High Court at Calcutta under Art. 226 of the Constitution for quashing an order of assessment made by the respondents against him for Rs. 23, 905-11-0 for the year 1949-50 under the Bengal Finance (Sales Tax) Act, 1941 (Act VI of 1941), hereinafter called the Act. Mr. Justice D. N. Sinha who heard the petition rejected all the contentions raised by the appellant and dismissed the petition. An appeal preferred against the order passed by Sinha, J., was dismissed by Chakravartti, C. J., and Lahiri, J. It is against this judgment that the appellant has come to this Court by special leave.

2. The appellant is a registered dealer under the Act. As required by the Act, the appellant submitted his return for the year 1949-50 which showed that his turnover was Rs. 24,21,023-3-3. The appellant s case, however, was that the taxable turnover for the relevant period was `nil . He claimed that goods sold worth Rs. 1,79,733-0-0 were sold to registered dealers and were thus exempt from tax under S. 5(2)(a)(ii) of the Act. In regard to the balance of goods worth Rs. 22,41,490