KOSHAL,J. - (1.) THIS is a petition under article 226 and 227 of the Constitution of India by 28 trading firms challenging the vires of section 4-B of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, which runs thus : " 4-B. Where a dealer who is liable to pay tax under this Act purchases any goods other than those specified in Schedule B from any source and - (i) used them within the State in the manufacture of goods specified in Schedule B, or (ii) uses them within the State in the manufacture of any goods, other than those specified in Schedule B, and sends the goods so manufactured outside the State in any manner other than by way of sale in the course of inter-State trade or commerce or in the course of export out of the territory of India, or (iii) uses such goods for a purpose other than that of resale within the State or sale in the course of inter-State trade or commerce or in the course of export out of the territory of India, or (iv) sends them outside the State other than by way of sale in the course of inter-State trade or commerce or in the course of export out of the territory of India, and no tax is payable on the purchase of such goods under any other provision of this Act, there shall be levied a tax on the purchase of such goods at such rate not exceeding the rate specified under sub-section (1) of section 5 as the State Government may direct. " The learned counsel for the respondents had urged that the section does not suffer from any constitutional invalidity and for that proposition places reliance on State of Tamil Nadu v. M. K. Kandaswami [[1975] 36 S. T. C. 191 (S. C.)], in which their Lordships of the Supreme Court upheld the vires of section 7-A of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1959, the material part of which was : " (1) Every dealer who in the course of this business purchases from a registered dealer or from any other person, any goods (the sale or purchase of which is leviable to tax under this Act) in circumstances in which no tax is payable under section 3, 4 or 5, as the case may be, and either, - (a) consumes such goods in the manufacture of other goods for sale or otherwise; or (b) disposes of such goods in any manner other than by way of sale in the State, or (c) despatches them to a place outside the State except as a direct result of sale or purchase in the course of inter-State trade or commerce, shall pay tax on the turnover relating to the purchase aforesaid at the rate mentioned in section 3, 4 or 5 as the case may be, whatever be the quantum of such turnover in a year : Provided that a dealer (other than a casual trader or agent of a non-resident dealer) purchasing goods [the sale of which is liable to tax under sub-section (1) of section 3] shall not be liable to pay tax under this sub-section, if his total turnover for a year is less than twenty-five thousand rupees. . . . . . . . "
(2.) THE two sections above extracted are pari materia and no ground is made out for treating the impugned section 4-B in a manner different from that in which section 7-A of the Madras Act was treated by their Lordships fort the purpose of determining its vires. We hold, therefore, that the impugned section is constitutionally valid. No other contention is raised in support of the petition which is accordingly dismissed, but without any order as to costs.;