The judgment of the Court was delivered by

T. V. RAMAKRISHNAN, J. - A batch of writ appeals, two tax revision case and an original petition are coming up before us on a reference and we are disposing of them by this common judgment as common questions arise for consideration in all the cases.

2. The writ appeals by the State are against the judgment of a learned single Judge of this Court allowing a batch of similar original petitions. The challenge in the original petition was against the constitutional validity of certain provisions contained in the Kerala General Sales Tax (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 1989 (Ordinance 7 of 1989) (for short "the Ordinance") and the corresponding provisions in the Kerala General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1990 (Act 3 of 1990) (for short "the amending Act") whereby entries 155 and 179 of the First Schedule to the Kerala General Sales Tax Act, 1963 (for short "the Act") were amended with retrospective effect. The impugned provisions imposed sales tax on "agarbathis" and "garlic" at the rates mentioned in the relevant entries in the First Schedule with retrospective effect. As per the judgment, the learned single Judge has found that though