Iqbal Ahmed Ansari, J.

1. The present set of writ petitions raises following important questions of constitutionality centering on Entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India and also the extent and purport of the ancillary powers vested in the State legislature, which has enacted the Tripura Sales Tax Act, 1976, and subsequently, the Tripura Value Added Tax Act, 2004.

1. Whether penalty can be imposed on a 'transporter', who facilitates and/or abets evasion of tax by a 'dealer' and because of whose such default, evasion of tax takes place?

2. Whether tax, which is, otherwise, chargeable on, and recoverable from, a 'dealer', can be charged on, and/or recovered from, a transporter?

3. Whether realization of tax from a 'transporter' under Section 13A of the Tripura Sales Tax Act, 1976, and Section 77 of the Tripura Value Added Tax Act, 2004, is constitutionally valid?

4. Whether the provisions contained in Section 13A of the Tripura Sales Tax Act, 1976, and Section 77 of the Tripura Value Added Tax Act, 2004, imposing penalty to the extent of 150% of the 'tax involved' is constitutionally valid?

5. On a conspectus of all the statutory provisions, conta