The power of the State to impose a tax on sales which had taken place prior to the enactment of the legislation was plenary and unrestricted subject only to any limitation which the Constitution might impose.

Judgment

VENKATARAMA AYYAR, J. : The petitioner is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, its registered office being at Kanpur in the State of Uttar Pradesh, and it is carrying on business in the manufacture and sale of jute goods. By a notification dated March 31, 1956, the State of Uttar Pradesh imposed a tax of one anna in the rupee on the sale proceeds of jute. Previously thereto, the tax payable on sale of jute was six pies in the rupee. This notification having been struck down by the High Court of Allahabad as unauthorised and inoperative, the State legislature enacted the U. P. Sales Tax (Validation) Act, 1958 (U. P. Act XV of 1958), hereinafter referred to as the Validation Act, validating the said notification as from March 31, 1956. In this petition filed under Art. 32 of the Constitution, the petitioner contends that notwithstanding the Validation Act, the notification in question continues to be void and inoperative, because it has not in fact been validated, and because the Act itself is ultra vires. The impugned notification was, it may be mentioned, superseded by a fresh notification on August 1, 1956, and the present dispute relates only to the tax on sales effected between April 1, 1956 and July 31, 1956. If the Validation Act is intra vires, the tax payable by the petitioner would, in accordance with the impugned notification, be Rs. 1,26,529-3-0, whereas if the said Act is ultra vires, the tax would be reduced by half.

2. Though the point for decision is a simple one lying within a narrow compass, to reach it one has to wade through a perfect morass of statutes, notifications and judicial pronouncements. We begin with what has been termed the "Principal Act" by the which sales tax was imposed in the Province. That is the U. P. Sales Tax Act No. XV of 1948, and that came into force on April 1, 1948. There were subsequent amendments to it in 1948, 1950 and 1952, but they are not material for the present discussion. It is sufficient to refer to S. 3A as it stood on March 31`, 1956, when the notification in question was issued. This section ran as follows:

"3-A. Single point taxation: (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in S. 3, the State Government may by notification in the official Gazette declare that the turnover in respect of any goods or class of goods shall not be liable to tax except at such single point in the series of sales by successive dealers as the State Government may specify.

2. If the State Government makes a declaration under sub-sec. (1) of this section, it may further declare that the turnover of the dealer, who is liable to pay tax on the sale of such goods, shall in respect of such sales, be taxed at such rate as may be specified not exceeding one anna per rupee if the sale relates to goods specified below:-

(i) Motor vehicles including motor cars, motor taxi-cabs, motor cycles and cycle combinations, motor scooters, motorrettes, motor omnibuses, motor vans and motor lorries, Chassis of motor vehicles. Articles including rubber and other tyres and tubes and batteries adapted for use as motor part and accessories of motor vehicles, not being such articles as are ordinarily also used for other purposes than as parts of accessories of motor vehicles.

(ii) Refrigerators and air conditioning plants.

(iii) (a) Wireless reception instruments, apparatus and component parts thereof, including all electrical valves, accumulators, amplifiers and loudspeakers which are not specially designed for purposes other than wireless reception.

(b) Radiogramophones.

(iv) cinematographic, photographic and other camerars, projectors and enlargers and films, plates, papers and cloth required for use therewith.

(v) Scents and perfumes,

and nine pies per rupee if it relates to any other goods."

It was under this provision that the U. P. Government had issued a notification on June 8, 1948, imposing a tax of six pies in the rupee on the sale of jute.

3. In exercise of the power conferred by Art. 213(1) of th