( 1. ) THIS is an application under Article 226 of the Constitution of India for the issuance of a writ or writs in the nature of mandamus or certiorari against the respondents ordering them to refrain from issuing any notice to the petitioner either under Section 15 or Section 10 or under any other section of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act, 1947 (hereinafter called the Act ).

( 2. ) THE petitioner, Bengal Nagpur Cotton Mills Club, Rajnandgaon, District Durg, claims to be a social and recreational club ; its alleged object being to arrange for the social entertainment and physical and mental recreation of its members. With a view of achieving its object, the petitioner says that it has to afford amenities in sports and indoor games to its members and has to supply cigarettes, soft drinks and foreign liquor to them. A notice under Section 15

(1) of the Act was served on the club to produce, before the Sales Tax Officer, documents and accounts of the club. The club was also asked to get itself registered under Section 8 of the said Act and a notice was served under Section 10 of the Act for submitting a return of accounts within two months of the date of the receipt of the said notice. The petitioner contends that it supplies goods to its members only, that the transaction is not a "sale", that the club is not a "dealer" and that it does not require registration. It further contends that it is not carrying on business of selling or supplying goods and that the levy of sales tax on "supply of goods" in the Act is ultra, vires the Constitution. The petitioner, therefore, files this petition for quashing the orders of the respondents.

( 3. ) IN the return, on behalf of the respondents, it is urged that the club supplies goods to its members on a commercial basis; that the club sells foreign liquor without registration under the Act; and that it was, therefore, asked to produce its books of account from 1948 and also to register under Section 8 of the Act. It is also contended that the club is an entity separate from the members composing it and the transactions regarding the supply of goods to its members come within the taxing liability of the Act, which, it is submitted, is intra vires the State Legislature and does not violate the Constitution of India.

( 4. ) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner places reliance on Cosmopolitan Club, Madras v. The Deputy Commercial Tax Officer, Triplicane Division A. I. R. 1952 Mad. 814 ; On appeal 6 S. T. C. 1, for the proposition that there is a difference between a members club and a proprietary club; that in a members club not running for profit every member has equal interest and share in the property and in the servants of the club ; and that if refreshments are served to members at cost price which includes sales tax already paid, such supply is not transfer of property in the course of trade or business within the meaning of the definition of "sale" given in Section 2 (h) of the Madras Sales Tax Act (IX of 1939); and that the levy of sales tax on such supply of refreshments is illegal.

( 5. ) NOW, the material portion of the definition of "sale" in the said Madras Sales Tax Act of 1939 differs from that given in Section 2 (g) of the Central Provinces and Berar Sales Tax Act (No. XXI of 1947) as will be apparent from the following :madras Act. C. P. Act.

"sale with all its grammatical "sale with all its grammatical variations and cognate expressions variations and cognate expressions means every transfer of the means any transfer of property in property in goods by one person to goods for cash or deferred payment another in the course of trade or or other valuable consideration, business for cash or for deferred including a transfer of property in payment or other valuable goods made in the course of the consideration. " execution of a contract, but does not include a mortgage, hypothecation, charge orpledge"

( 6. ) THE prominent requirement of the definition in the Madras