The judgment of the Court was delivered by

GULATI J. - This and the connected writ petitions are being disposed of by this common order as they are of the same petitioner and raise identical questions. The petitioner in all these writ petitions is one Sri Deoki Nandan, who carries on business of sarrafa and pawning at Lakhna in the district Etawah under the name and style of Hulas Rai Raghunandan Lal.

On 30th January, 1966, Sri M. L. Gupta, Sales Tax Officer, Etawah, made a raid at the business premises of the petitioner to search and seize the books of accounts and other documents connected with the business activities of the petitioner. There is considerable controversy as to what exactly happened at the time of the search and seizure. According to the petitioner, all books of accounts including those pertaining to the business of pawning were indiscriminately seized and carried away by the raiding party which included Sri M. L. Gupta, Sales Tax Officer, Etawah, Servasri K. C. Saxena and A. H. Rizvi, Assistant Sales Tax Officers and a peon. According to the Sales Tax Officer, certain books of accounts relating to the assessment years 1961-62 to 1965-66 were seized as the