JUDGMENT

VENKATACHALIAH, J. :— In these civil appeals and writ petitions the constitutional validity of legislations of different States viz.. State of Gujarat, State of Tamil Nadu, State of Karnataka and State of West Bengal, imposing a tax on Luxuries under Entry 62 of List Il of VII Schedule to the Constitution of India is challenged.

Civil Appeal Nos. 338 and339 of 1981, writ petition Nos. 7990, 9119, 8338, 8339 of 1981 relate to the challenge to the legislation by the State of Gujarat viz., the Gujarat Tax on Luxuries (Hotels & Lodging Houses) Act, 1977. Writ Petition No. 162 of 1982 pertains to the corresponding legislation of the State of Tamil Nadu viz., Tamil Nadu Tax on Luxuries. in Hotels & Lodging Houses Act, 1981. Writ petitions Nos. 1271 and 1272 of 1982 pertain to the challenge to corresponding Karnataka Legislation viz., The Karnataka Tax on Luxuries (Hotel and Lodging Houses) Act, 1979. W. P. No. 5321 of 1985 pertains to the challenge to West Bengal Entertainments and Luxuries (Hotels and Restaurants) Tax Act, 1972. All these Taxing-statutes, except for certain aspects individual to them, are analogous and the scheme of the legislation is substantially similar. The variations are in the differences in the criteria of classification of the hotels to which the Act is applied and the rates of taxes. The grounds of challenge are substantially the same. An examination of the contention urged in support of the challenge to one statute would cover the cases of the other statutes as well.

2. We might take up for consideration, the provisions of the Gujarat Act which may be considered as representative of the legislations on the topic. The constitutional validity of the Gujarat Act had been assailed before the High Court of Gujarat, which by its judgment dated 23-7-1980 (reported in 1980 Tax LR 2354) upheld its constitutional validity. The judgment of the High Court is under appeal in C.A. Nos. 338 and 339 of 1981.

3. The statement of objects and reasons in the Gujarat Legislative Bill states :

"With a view to augmenting the financial resources of the State it is proposed to levy a tax on luxury provided in hotels and lodging houses at the rate of certain percentages of lodging charges recovered by the proprietors of such hotels and lodging houses from persons lodging therein. Every accommodation provided in a hotel or lodging house the charges for which are not less than rupees thirty-five per day per person is, for the purposes of the tax, to be treated as a luxury. This bill seeks to achieve that object."

Section 2 is the interpretation clause and defines, inter alia, the expressions "charges for "lodging" "hotel" "luxury provided in "hotel" "proprietor" occurring in clauses (a), (d), (e) and (g) respectively. The definitions are as follows :

(a) "charges for lodging include charges for air conditioning, telephone, television, radio, music and extra beds and the like but do not include any charges for food, drink or other amenities,"

(d) "hotel, means a building or part of a building where lodging accommodation, with or without board is, by way of business provided for a monetary consideration, and includes a lodging house,"

(e) "luxury provided in a hotel, means accommodation for lodging provided in a hotel. the rate of charges for which (including charges for airconditioning, telephone.

(a) Where the charges for lodging are thirty five rupees or more but not more than fifty rupees per day per person.

(b) Where the charges for lodging are more than fifty rupees but not more than one hundred rupees per day per person.

(c) Where the charges for lodging are more than one hundred rupees per day per person.

Provided that where charges for lodging are levied otherwise than on daily basis or person, then, for the purpose of determining the tax liability of any person under this section, the charges shall be-computed as for a day and per person, based on the period of lodging for which charges are payable and the number of persons act