S.K.GUPTA,J. - (1.) SINCE similar questions are involved in these aforementioned writ petitions, they are, with the consent of the parties, being taken up together and disposed of by a common judgment and order. Civil Misc. Writ Petition No. 1256 of 2006 is being treated as the leading writ petition and therefore its brief facts are being given below. These writ petitions have been filed, inter alia, for the following reliefs; "1) Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of certiorari quashing the impugned circular dated 20.1.06 issued by the Commissioner of Trade Tax, U. P., Lucknow (Annexure 2 to the writ petition). 2)Issue a writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus directing the respondent No. 3 to issue the requisite form-31 to the petitioner as and when the same are required without asking any security."
(2.) THE petitioner is engaged in trading of all kinds of Iron and Steel and is assessed by the Assessing Authority, Respondent No. 3 Assistant Commissioner of Trade Tax UP. The respondent No. 2, the Commissioner of Trade Tax, UP (in sort 'the Commissioner') issued a Circular dated 20.1.06 under Section 8-C (3-A) of the Act. According to the aforesaid circular dated 20.1.06, the traders of the Iron and Steel who are engaged in import of these commodities have been directed to furnish security as and when they apply for requisite forms. Four different categories of Iron and Steel have been classified and the Commissioner has given an average price to all the categories, and the dealers are required to furnish security at the rate of 4% of the value of the goods to safegurad the interest of revenue. The said circular dated 20.1.06 covers only the registered dealers who have applied for registration under UP and Central Sales Tax Act (in sort 'the Act') on or before 01.04.01. The traders registered before this date have been exempted from furnishing any security for issuance of the requisite forms. Paragraph 3 of the aforesaid circular states that the requisite forms will only be issued after the payment of cash security to be duly made otherwise the dealers will not be provided with the requisite forms which are required for import of Iron and Steel from outside the State. It has been further alleged that the traders in the Iron and Steel industry work on very little profit margins and if they are made to furnish security at such high rates then their business will come to a stand still and the policy of the State Government has actually enriched the traders who are registered prior to 1.4.01 and on the other hand the dealers registered after the aforesaid date are loosing heavily in their business.
(3.) LEARNED counsel for the petitioner has further submitted that the whole sale price of the Ingots as calculated in view of the circular dated 20.1.06 issued by the Commissioner of Trade Tax, respondent No. 2 is much higher than the actual market value of the goods and therefore, the amount which is required by the dealers to furnish as security actually comes out much more than the tax payable on the goods. He further submitted that the circular specifically exempted the traders who have been registered before 1.4.01 without giving any reasons for such a classification/discrimination and there is no valid reason for making any such classification and it is violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India and is liable to be struck down.;