JUDGMENT

S.K.Mishra, J.

The following questions arise for determination in this bunch of writ petitions:-

(i) Whether the entry tax under Orissa Entry Tax Act, 1999, can be levied and/or imposed on the value of the goods imported by the petitioners from outside the country ?,

(ii) Whether such entry tax under the aforesaid Act can be levied and/or imposed on import of plant and machinery for establishing a plant in the State of Odisha ?

(iii) Whether the entry tax can be levied on certain raw materials and goods imported from outside the country and purchased from outside the State when such materials have not been listed in the schedule appended to the Orissa Entry Tax Act ? and

(iv) Whether the Orissa Entry Tax Act, 1999, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’ for brevity, is violative of Entry 83 of List I of Seventh Schedule and Article 246 of the Constitution of India.

2. The petitioners, in all these writ petitions except a few, whose cases shall be described separately below, are operating different industries for which they are importing coal from outside the country for being used as raw materials for production of various products. The petitioners, in order to carry out thei