Sen, J. - (1.) These appeals are against a judgment of the High Court of Jammu and Kashmir dated 24-8-1983. The point for consideration before the High Court was whether the State had arbitrarily exercised its power under Section 5 of the Jammu and Kashmir General Sales Tax Act, 1962 (hereinafter referred to as the Act) by not extending the period of exemption from Sales Tax enjoyed by the brick manufacturers of the State.
(2.) Section 4 of the Act is the charging section. Section 3 enables the Government to exempt in whole or in part any goods from the charge of tax. Relevant portions of Sections 4 and 5 are as under:- "4. Liability to tax under this Act:- (1) Subject to the provision of this Act, every dealer except the one dealing exclusively in good declared tax free under Section 5 shall pay for each year tax on his total turnover at a rate not exceeding twelve per cent. of such turnover as may be determined by the Government and notified by the Government in the Government Gazette and such tax shall be charged on the sale of goods once only: ********** ********** 5. Exemption from taxation:- The Government may, subject to such restriction and conditions as may be prescribed including conditions as to licence and licence fees, by order exempt in whole or in part from payment of tax any class of dealers or any goods or class or description of goods.
(3.) In exercise of its power under Section 5, the Government issued a Notification No. SRO-468 dated 1-8-1977 whereby exemption was given to a number of Small Scale Units. It was specifically provided in the Notification that for the purpose of grant of exemption this Notification shall be and shall always be deemed to have been in force from 5-7-1968 to 31-3-1977. A list of industries, which qualified for exemption was addended to the Notification, which qualified for exempted small scale industries under the heading "CEMENT CERAMIC AND STONE INDUSTRIES".;