BASHEER AHMED SAYEED, J.

In Cr.R.C. Nos. 88 and 89 of 1953, the accused have been convicted under Section 15(b) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act and each of them has been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 25, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for fifteen days. The sales tax amounts of Rs. 3, 125-4-0 and Rs. 4, 000-6-6 respectively have been directed to be recovered from them as if they were fines. In Cr.R.C. Nos. 90 and 91 of 1953, the accused have been convicted under the same section and each of them sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 75, in default to undergo simple imprisonment for fifteen days. In addition, the sales tax amounts due, viz., Rs. 3, 577-6-0 and Rs. 1, 522-7-3 respectively, have been directed to be recovered from them as if they were fines.

The facts in each of these cases are the same and accordingly the order of the learned Magistrate in each of these cases is also, in substance, the same. The witnesses examined for the prosecution are also the same and the defence raised before the learned Magistrate in each of the cases was also the same. These revision cases against the said orders of the learned Magistrate have been posted together before this Bench for being dealt with in a batch for the reason that they raise common grounds on which the accused seek to set aside the orders of the learned Magistrate.

The accused are merchants dealing in hides and skins in Salem. Their business consists in the purchase of skins and hides and exporting the same to foreign countries. In Cr.R.C. No. 88 of 1953, the accused were called upon to pay sales tax in the sum of Rs. 3, 126-4-0 which represented the balance payable out of the sum of Rs. 5, 519-13-0 to which the accused were assessed for the year 1950-51. This assessment is said to have been made on the purchases of skins made by the accused in pursuance of orders placed with them by the foreign companies for the supply of the same. In Cr.R.C. No. 89 of 1953, the same accused as in Cr.R.C. No. 88 of 1953, were assessed to sales tax for the months of April to September, 1951, by the Assistant Commercial Tax Officer, Salem, in the total sum of Rs. 4, 000-6-6 said to be due from the company on the skins purchased by them. In Cr.R.C. No. 90 of 1953, there has been a provisional assessment against the accused for the months of May to September, 1951, in respect of sales tax due for the skins purchased by them. Similarly in Cr.R.C. No. 91 of 1953, the accused was assessed by the Assistant Commercial Tax Officer, Salem Town, to an aggregate sum of Rs. 2, 652-5-9 for the year 1950-51. The prosecution in this case is in respect of the sum of Rs. 1, 522-7-3 representing the balance of the assessment due and payable by the accused.The charge against all these accused is that they, having been legally assessed to sales tax, failed to pay either the whole or part of the said tax, in spite of an order of assessment having been served on them, as also a notice of demand calling upon them to make payment of the tax due within the stipulated period of time, and that such failure on the part of the accused brings them within the scope of Section 15(b) of the Madras General Sales Tax Act. Section 15(b) is to the effect that any person who fails to pay within the time allowed any tax assessed on him or any fee due from him under the Act shall, on conviction by a Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the First Class, be liable to a fine which may extend to Rs. 1, 000 and, in the case of conviction under clause 15(b), (d), (f) or (g) the Magistrate shall specify in the order the tax, fee or other amount which the person convicted has failed or evaded to pay or has wrongfully collected and the tax, fee or amount as specified shall be recoverable as if it were a fine. It is not disputed in these cases that there was a tax assessed on the accused in each of the cases, that a time has been prescribed within which the tax was to be paid and that the accused failed to pay the ta