Hegde, J.—These petitions are connected. One Sarjerao Appasaheb Shitole has filed both these petitions. He is the karta of his family. As karta of his family, he has been assessed to wealth-tax for the assessment years 1958-59 and 1959-60. In pursuance of the afore-mentioned assessments, two demand notices for the two assessment years mentioned above have been issued to him on October 24, 1962. In these petitions, he prays that this court may be pleased to call for the assessment proceedings in question and quash the demand notices issued to him by issuing writs of certiorari or such other writs or orders or directions as we deem fit.

2. Sri B.V. Krishnaswami Rao, the learned counsel for the assessee, in the course of his arguments, attacked the impugned notices on three different grounds. They are :

(i) Wealth-tax on lands and buildings is ultra vires of the powers of Parliament;

(ii) Under any circumstance, Parliament could not have imposed wealth-tax on undivided families; and

(iii) the Wealth-tax Act, 1957 (27 of 1957), (to be hereinafter referred to as the "Act") is violative of article 14 of the Constitution in so far as it provides for the levy of tax on Hindu undivided