Judgment

VENKATACHALIAH, J.:- In this batch of writ petitions under Article 32 of the Constitution of India petitioners who are hoteliers challenge on grounds of lack of legislative competence and of violation of Articles 14 and 19(1)(g) the constitutional validity of the Hotel Receipts Tax Act, 1980, (Act for short) which imposes a special tax on the gross receipts of certain category of hotels. Section 3 of the Act limits the application of the Act to those hotels where the "room-charges" for residential accommodation provided to any person during the previous year are Rs. 75/- or more per day per individual. If a hotel is within this class then Section 5 brings to charge the Hotels chargeable-receipts as defined under Sec. 6 of the Act.

The Act was passed on 4-12-1980 and came into force on 9-12-1980 when it received the assent of the President of India. The levy under the Act commences from the assessment-year 1981-82 and brings to tax the chargeable receipts of the corresponding previous year. The rate of tax is a flat rate of 15 percent of the "chargeable-receipts" defined in See. 6 as the total amount of all charges, by whatever name called, received by or accruing or arising