Kanchan Chakraborty, J.

1. THE Judgment of the Court was delivered by This application is at the instance of Howrah Tax Payers Association and six (6) others and is directed against the judgment dated 30.3.2009 passed by the West Bengal Taxation Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as Tribunal) in R.N. 266 of 2008.

2. IN this application the Writ petitioners have questioned the constitutional validity of the provisions for imposition of 'late fee' for filing of returns as contained in sub-section (2) of section 32 of the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003. (hereinafter referred to VAT in short)

The facts leading to this application are stated below, in short - The State Legislature by the West Bengal Finance Act, 2007 amended the provisions of section 32(2) of the VAT with effect from April 1, 2007 affording opportunity to the dealers who failed to submit return within the prescribed time to furnish return upon payment of 'penalty' as prescribed. Further amendment was made by the West Bengal Finance Act, 2008 (Act 1 of 2008) to section 32(2) providing payment of 'late fee' in place of 'penalty' with retrospective effect from April 1, 2007, i.e., the date when the first amen