( 1 ) THE Modi Food Products, Limited, Modinagar, district Meerut, the applicant in this reference under the U. P. Sales Tax Act, is a manufacturer and dealer in non-edible oils. The U. P. Sales tax Act came into force with effect from 1-4-1948, and, under Section 3 of that Act, tax was payable on sales of various goods including non-edible oils at the uniform rate of 3 pies per rupee on all sales. In Section 3 of that Act, as originally passed, it was laid down that tax was to be paid on the turnover in an assessment year by every dealer but there was no clear specification as to which turnover was to be taken into consideration. In Section 7 of the Act, it was laid down that, for purposes of assessment, every dealer was to file a return of his turnover of the previous year within 60 days of the commencement of the assessment year. This provision in Section 7 was amended by the U. P. Sales Tax (Amendment)Act (U. P. Act No. 25 of 1948) which came into force In the month of June 1948, By this amendment, a proviso was added to Section 7, permitting the State Government to give an option to a dealer to file returns of sales of the assessment year itself in lieu of the