Alladi Kuppuswami, J. - (1.) All these writ petitions have been heard together as a common question regarding the interpretation of the explanation to S. 4-A of the Andhra Pradesh Entertainment Tax Act (referred to in this judgment as the Act) is involved in these cases. It is sufficient to refer to the facts in W. P. No. 9668/81 in order to appreciate the contentions put forward.
(2.) The petitioner is the proprietor of Jayalakshmi Talkies, Under S. 4 of the Act, it is provided that on each payment for admission to any entertainment, there shall be levied and paid to the State Government , a tax referred to as the entertainments tax calculated at certain rates. S. 4-A provides that in addition to the tax under S. 4, there shall be levied and paid to the State Government a tax calculated at Rs. 6.00 for every show in case of entertainments held within the jurisdiction of any local authority whose population is 50,000 or above and Rs. 4.00 for every show where entertainments are held within the jurisdiction of any local authority whose population exceeds 25,000 but is below 50,000. The explanation to S. 4-A is in the following terms :- "The population referred to in this Act is the population according to the last official census, the figures of which have been published." Under S. 4-C of the Act, in case of entertainments held within the jurisdiction of a local authority whose population does not exceed 25,000 the tax for every entertainment show is calculated at certain rates specified therein. S. 4-C (2) provides that the provisions of Ss. 4 and 4-A shall not apply to entertainments held within the jurisdiction of any local authority, whose population does not exceed 25,000 to which the provisions of sub-sec, (1) apply. S. 5 provides that in lieu of the tax payable under Sub-s. (1) of S. 4-C the proprietor may, at his option, enter into an agreement with the prescribed authority to compound the taxable payable for a year for a fixed sum, which is calculated according to the provisions of that Section. It is thus seen that the proprietor of an entertainment is entitled to exercise an option to compound the tax according to S. 5 and enter into an agreement for that purpose in cases where the entertainment is held within the jurisdiction of a local authority whose population does not exceed 25,000. If the population exceeds 25,000 the proprietor has no such rights but has to pay tax according to the provisions of Ss. 4, 4-A, 4-AA of the Act etc. The petitioner who was holding entertainments within the jurisdiction of Vetapalem village, whose population did not exceed 25,000 had entered into an agreement to compound the tax under S. 5: but he received a notice on 6-12-1981 that the population of Vetapalem village is 28,750 according to the census of 1981. Hence however (sic) stated that as the population was more than 25,000, S. 5 (1) of the Act has no application and he was not entitled to opt for an agreement to compound the tax. Challenging the validity of the said notice, the petitioner filed the writ petition.
(3.) The contention of the petitioner is that under explanation to S. 4-A of the Act, the population referred to in the Act, is the population according to the last official census, the figures of which have been published. The last official census, the figures of which have been published, is only that of 1971. According to that, the population is less than twenty five thousand and therefore he is entitled to opt for an agreement to compound the tax. He contended that the figures of 1981 census, have not been published and hence the authorities were not justified in taking into account the figures of that census and proceedings on the footing that the population is over 25,000 and issuing a notice to him, that S. 5 has no application. The question therefore for consideration is, whether the authorities are right in taking into account the figures of 1981 census.;