JUDGMENT

P. N. SINGHGHAL, J.:—These cases relate to the validity of certain provisions of the Kerala Buildings Tax Act, 1975, hereinafter referred to as the Act, and are directed against the judgment of the Kerala High Court dated June 12, 1978, by which the validity of those provisions has been upheld. We have heard these cases together and shall deal with them in this judgment.

2. In order to appreciate the controversy, it will be convenient to make a brief mention of the background of the Act.

3. The Legislature of the Kerala State wanted to impose a tax on buildings, and passed the Kerala Building Tax Act, 1961, which came into force on March 2, 1961. Its validity was challenged, and by his judgment dated November 20, 1964, a learned single Judge of the High Court held, it to be invalid and unconstitutional. The Division Bench took the same view in its judgment dated July 7, 1966, and dismissed the appeal of the State. The matter came to this Court, and it also dismissed the appeal by its judgment dated August 13, 1968, reported in State of Kerala v. Haji K. Kutty Naha, (1969) 1 SCR 645. This was so because the Legislautre had adopted merely the floor area of the building as the