1. This appeal is filed against the judgment of a learned Single Judge allowing the writ petition of the respondent. The Bench of two Judges, by whom the appeal was at first heard, referred it to a larger Bench on account of a conflict between two Full Bench decisions. Hence the appeal is listed before us.

2. The Notified Area Committee of Mohammadabad, the first appellant, assessed the respondent with a tax of Rupees 281.25 on his circumstances and property. Rs. 250/- was the amount of tax on circumstances, and Rs. 31.25 on property. Annexure B to the writ petition suggests that he was carrying on some business and had a house. The tax was assessed on March 18, 1968. This assessment was quashed by the learned Single Judge.

3. Far back in 1872, Mohammadabad became a town area. Town areas are now governed by the Town Areas Act , 1914. S.14 of this Act provided for the imposition of certain taxes including a tax on a man's circumstances till a part of the year 1948. In that year S.14 was reshaped. The substituted section materially read:
"(1) Subject to any general rules or special orders of the Local Government in this behalf, the taxes which a committee may impose are the following:
(