JUDGMENT

FAZL ALI, J. –

This is an appeal from an order of the High Court of Judicature at Patna dated the 9th September, 1948, declining to call upon the Board of Revenue to state a case under Section 21(3) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act, 1944 (Act VI of 1944) with reference to an assessment made under that Act.

The Bihar Sales Tax Act was passed in 1944, and Section 4 of the Act provides that "every dealer whose gross turnover during the year immediately preceding the commencement of the Act exceeded Rs. 5,000 shall be liable to pay tax under the Act on sales effected after the date so notified." It is not disputed that, having regard to the definitions of dealer, goods and sale under the Act, the appellant, who has been doing contract work on a fairly extensive scale for the Central Public Works Department and the East Indian Railway, comes within the category of a dealer mentioned in Section 4. Section 7 of the Act provides that "no dealer shall, while being liable under Section 4 to pay tax under the Act, carry on business as a dealer unless he has been registered under the Act and possesses a registration certificate." In pursuance of this provision, the appellant filed an applica