JUDGMENT

B.N. Lokur, J. - The petitioner firm which is a wholesale dealer in poppy heads imported in Uttar Pradesh from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan was served with notices to pay duty on poppy heads sold during the months of July and August 1969. This writ petition seeks to quash the notices on the ground that the poppy heads concerned are not leviable to duty.

2. The duty, it is common ground, is sought to be levied as a countervailing duty under rule 42 (ii) of U.P. Poppy Head Rules, 1961, framed under the Opium Act, 1878. Rule 42-A which was added on the 1st July 1969, reads as follows :-

"42-A (i) Excise Duty shall be payable on poppy heads produced in Uttar Pradesh at the following rates :-

(ii) A counter-wailing duty at the rate of 50 Paise per kilogram shall be payable on poppy heads produced outside Uttar Pradesh and imported into Uttar Pradesh."

It is averred by the petitioner firm and not dispute by the State and the excise authorities that the entire quantity of poppy heads in respect of which the duty has been demanded was importe