( 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 principa