RAJAGOPALAN, J.

This application for the issue of a writ of certiorari, preferred under Article 226 of the Constitution, arises out of proceedings taken by the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, to assess the petitioner to tax under the Madras General Sales Tax Act, IX of 1939, for the assessment year 1952-53.

The petitioner was a dealer in grocery with his principal place of business at Ulundurpet within the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, in South Arcot District. The petitioner was first assessed to tax on a turnover of Rs. 86, 441-14-9 for the assessment year 1952-53. The assessment was completed by the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, on 10th February, 1954. Proceedings were subsequently taken under rule 17 of the General Sales Tax Rules and on 20th March, 1956, the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, revised the assessment for 1952-53, to include in the assessable turnover of the petitioner a further sum of Rs. 56, 279, which represented the price of chillies sold by the petitioner in Dindigul taluk of Madurai district.

The events that transpired between the two assessments and which led up to the assessment on 20th March, 1956, have to be set out.

On 29th October, 1954, the petitioner applied to the Deputy Controller of Exports for a licence to export chillies. In that application the petitioner stated that in 1952-53 he had sold chillies of the value of Rs. 56, 279 at his place of business Nagayakottai in Dindigul taluk, and he claimed further that he had grown these chillies on his lands. The petitioner enclosed certificates from the village officers to prove his contention, that he had about 50 acres of land under his cultivation in the relevant period. That application of the petitioner was eventually rejected by the Deputy Controller on 12th April, 1955. The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Dindigul, took proceedings to assess the petitioner to sales tax on the admitted sale turnover of the chillies in 1952-53. The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer held that there was no proof that the chillies the petitioner admittedly sold in the relevant assessment year were grown by him on lands in which he had an interest. On 22nd September, 1955, the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Dindigul, completed the assessment and levied a tax of Rs. 879-5-9 on the turnover of Rs. 56, 279. The petitioner preferred an appeal to the Commercial Tax Officer, Madurai, against that order of assessment. The petitioner did not disclose in the memorandum of appeal that he had his place of business at Ulundurpet and that he had already been assessed to tax for 1952-53 by the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur. The petitioner averred in the memorandum of appeal that illness had prevented him from placing the relevant material before the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Dindigul, to prove that the petitioner had produced on his lands the chillies that he sold in 1952-53. The petitioner furnished details of the lands that he held and he produced with the memorandum of appeal four lease deeds. The petitioner also pleaded that he had no opportunity of participating in the inquiry that the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Dindigul, claimed that he had conducted at Nagayakottai, to which that assessing authority referred in the order of assessment dated 22nd September, 1955.Pending disposal of that appeal, when the departmental authorities in Madurai realised that the petitioner was already an assessee within the jurisdiction of the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, the latter was informed of the proceedings that had been taken by the Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Dindigul. The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Tirukoilur, issued a notice to the petitioner on 1st January, 1956, to show cause why the turnover of the sales of chillies should not be included and the assessment for 1952-53 revised. Eventually, after an inquiry in which the petitioner did not participate, the Deputy Commercial