1. This is an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against an order of this Court passed upon a reference made under section 66(2) of the Income-tax Act. Leave to appeal is sought under the provisions of Article 133 of the Constitution. Under this Article, an appeal Jies to the Supreme Court "from any judgment, decree or final order in a civil proceeding of a High Court." Mr. Sikri, who appears on behalf of the Commissioner of Income-tax, contends that the order under appeal is neither a judgment, a decree nor a final order and that therefore leave cannot be granted under the provisions of Article 133. He has placed before us a recent decision of the Supreme Court in PREM CHAND V/s. STATE OF BIHAR, AIR 1951 S C 14. In that case the point under consideration was whether an appeal lay to the Supreme Court from an order of the High Court of Patna declining to call upon the Board of Revenue to state a case under section 21(3) of the Bihar Sales Tax Act.

Now section 21(3) is analogous in terms to section 66 of the Income-tax Act. The judgment contains a reference to a decision of the Patna High Court in HARIHAR GIR V/s. COMMR. OF INCOME-TAX, BIHAR AND ORISSA, AIR