( 1 ) THIS is a petition under Art. 226 of the Constitution in which the petitioner challenges the validity of an assessment order dated 14th September, 1956, made under the U. P. Sales Tax Act (hereinafter called the Act) and of a subsequent notice of demand under the same Act dated 15th september, 1956.

( 2 ) THE petitioner carries on business in Aligarh in vegetable ghee, cloth and sugar and is a registered dealer for the purposes of the Act. On 18th June, 1956, the respondent, who is the sales Tax Officer, Aligarh, called upon the petitioner to furnish a return of his turnover for the quarter ending 30th June, 1956. The petitioner furnished a return, but he denied that any sales tax could legally be recovered from him on his turnover for this period on the ground that the turnover on the goods in which he dealt was not liable to tax. The respondent, however, by an assessment order dated 14th September, 1956, provisionally assessed the petitioner to a tax of rs. 75,000 on an estimated turnover of Rs. 12 Lakhs on the ghee, cloth and sugar imported by the petitioner from outside Uttar Pradesh at the rate of one anna per rupee,

( 3 ) IN order to appreciate the principal argument addressed to us it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act. Sub-section (1) of Section 3-A of the Act as it stood prior to the coming into force of the U. P. Sales Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 1956, empowered the State government by notification in the official Gazette to declare that the turnover in respect of any goods shall not be liable to sales fax save at such single point as the State Government may specify. Sub-section (2) of this section then provided that if the State Government makes a declaration under Sub-section (1) it may further declare that the turnover of the dealer who is liable to pay tax on the sale of such goods shall, in respect of such sale, be taxed at such rate as may be specified not exceeding one anna per rupee if the sale related to any of the classes of goods specified in the subsection and to be taxed at such rate not exceeding nine pies per rupee if the sale was in respect of other goods.

( 4 ) ON 31st March, 1956, the U. P. Sales Tax (Amendment) Ordinance (hereinafter called "the ordinance) was published in the Official Gazette of that date. Section 4 of the Ordinance provides that in lieu of Sub-section (2) of Section 3-A of the Act two new sub-sections be substituted. We are concerned with the new Sub-section (2) which reads thus :

(2) If the State Government makes a declaration under Sub-section (1), it may further declare that the turnover in respect of such goods shall be liable to tax at such rate not exceeding one anna per rupee as may be specified. " the only other section to which reference requires at this stage to be made is Section 1 which, so far as is material, provides that "1. This Ordinance may be called the U. P. Sales Tax (Amendment) Ordinance, 1956. 2. This section shall come into force at once and the amendments to the U. P. Sales Tax Act, 1948 (hereinafter called the Principal Act) made by Sections 2 to 13 shall. . . . . . have effect on and from the first day of April 1956;. . . . . . . . . . . "

( 5 ) ON the same date on which the Ordinance was published, namely 31st March, 1956, the governor of Uttar Pradesh issued a Notification No. ST-905/x which so far as is relevant reads as follows:

in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 3-A of the U. P. Sales Tax Act, 1948, as amended from time to time, and in supersession of all previous notifications on the subject, the governor of Uttar Pradesh is hereby pleased to declare that the turnover in respect of the goods specified in the List below shall not with effect from April 1, 1956, be liable to tax except (a) in the case of goods imported from outside Uttar Pradesh, at the point of sale by the importer; and (b) in the case of goods manufactured in Uttar Pradesh, at the point of sale by the manufacturer; and the Governor