JUDGMENT

AYYANGAR, J.-The proper construction and legal effect of a notification under section 9(1) of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (Andhra Pradesh Act VI of 1957) which for shortness we would call the Act, is the principal question that arises for consideration in this appeal by special leave in which the correctness of the decision of the High Court dismissing a writ petition filed by the appellants is challenged.

Section 5 of the Act is the charging section under which dealers are liable to pay sales tax on their turnover. Under sub-section (3)(a) of this section, read with Schedule II to the Act, cotton textile goods which was the commodity in which the appellants were dealing were liable to tax at a single point. Section 9 of the Act enabled the State Government to exempt the tax leviable under the Act In exercise of the power thus conferred a notification was issued on December 13, 1957, which read :

"In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 9 of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 (Andhra Pradesh Act VI of 1957) (hereinafter referred to as the said Act), the Governor of Andhra Pradesh hereby exempts from the tax payable under the said Act, with effect on and from the 14th December 1957, the sale or purchase of any of the goods appended hereto :

Provided that in the case of any class of such goods in respect of which additional duties of excise are leviable by the Central Government under clause 3 of the Additional Duties of Excise (Levy and Distribution) Bill, 1957, read with section 4 of the Provisional Collection of Taxes Act, 1931 (Central Act XVI of 1931), the exemption shall be subject TO the following conditions, namely :-

(1) The dealer shall prove to the satisfaction of the assessing authority that additional duties of excise have been so levied and collected on such goods by the Central Government, in default of which the dealer shall be liable to pay the tax under the said Act in respect of such goods.

(2) Any dealer who is so liable to pay the tax may, at his option pay, m lieu thereof, a lump sum by way of composition determined in the manner specified in condition (3).

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As nothing turns on the terms of condition" (3) with which the notification ends it is not set out. The appendix which is referred to m the opening paragraph has three clauses the first of which is the only material one and this runs :

"1. All varieties of textiles, viz., cotton, woollen or silken including rayon, art silk or nylon, whether manufactured by handloom, power-loom or otherwise."

Pausing here, it is necessary to set out the terms of clause 3 of the Additional Duties of Excise Bill, 1957, which is referred to in the proviso to the opening paragraph of the notification. Though the Bill was later passed into law and became an Act, we shall refer to the Bill conformably to the phraseology of the notification. Clause 3(1) which is the relevant portion of that clause reads :

"3. (1) There shall be levied and collected in respect of the following goods, namely, sugar, tobacco, cotton fabrics, rayon or artificial silk fabrics and woollen fabrics produced or manufactured in India and on all. such goods lying in stock within the precincts of any factory, warehouse or other premises where the said goods were manufactured, stored or produced, or in any premises appurtenant thereto, duties of excise at the rates specified in the First Schedule to this Act."

How the matter came before the High Court was briefly this. There was no dispute that the appellants were and are doing business in the purchase and sale of textile goods. They claimed exemption from the payment of sales tax in respect of goods in stock with them on December 14, 1957, relying on the notification set out earlier. The Sales Tax Authorities, however, rejected this claim and as a result a writ petition was filed in the High Court under Article 226 by t