The State of Tamil Nadu thereupon preferred the present appeals after obtaining certificate from the High Court.
The respondents also companytended in the alternative that even if the sales effected by them were inter State sales they were number liable to be taxed at seven per cent under Section 8 2 b since that section was ultra vires and void as offending Article 301 of the Constitution and that the appropriate rate of tax leviable on these sales was, therefore, the same rate which was leviable on local sales of matches within the State of Tamil Nadu, namely, two per cent.
The High Court upheld the companytention of the respondents and following its earlier decision in Sitalakshmi Mills Ltd. v. Deputy Commercial Tax Officer 1968 22 STC 436 Mad took the view that Section 8 2 b was violative of Article 301 of the Constitution and was, therefore, unconstitutional and void and, on this view it held that the sales effected by the respondents were taxable only at the rate of two per cent.
This companytention was finally negatived by the High Court in the revision petitions preferred by them and since numberappeals have been preferred by the respondents against this finding, it has become final against them.
N. Bhagwati, J. These appeals by certificate are directed against an order passed by the High Court of Madras disposing of three revision petitions preferred by the three respondents challenging the levy of sales tax on certain transactions of sale of matches entered into by them with buyers in the States of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
