LAKSHMANAN, C. J. - (1.) THE petitioner No. 1 is a society of Chartered Accountants registered under the provisions of the Rajasthan Societies Registration Act, 1958. According to the petitioners the society has been formed inter alia with the object of espousing and advocating the cause of the profession and its members and also to represent them before the Authorities and Courts. Petitioner No. 2 is a Chartered Accountant and President of the Society and filed this writ petition for himself and for and on behalf of the society and all its members.
(2.) THE State government of Rajasthan has introduced the Rajasthan Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2000 in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly on 30. 03. 2000, while inter-alia, invoking and giving the declaration under Section 3 of the Rajasthan Provisional Collection of Tax Act, 1958, proposed to enact the Rajasthan Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings & Employments Act, 2000, to provide for the levy and collection of tax on Professions, Trades, Callings & Employments in the State of Rajasthan. The Association has challenged the Notification dated, 30. 03. 2000 issued by the respondents prescribing the rates at which the professional will be taxed under the Rajasthan Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Act, 2000 (Act No. 12 of 2000 ). The writ Petition was earlier heard by Hon'ble Justice V. G. Palshikar. The learned Judge, after considering the entire case from all perspectives felt that it is a matter affecting the entire community of Chartered Accounts in the State of Rajasthan and involved substantial question of interpretation of law and Constitution of India in so far as notification mentioned above is concerned and taking into consideration the nature of dispute, the number of persons involved and the need for an expedient and final adjudication of the dispute and likelihood of either of the party taking of the matter in appeal before the Division Bench and possibly to the Supreme Court, referred the matter to the Division Bench for an authoratitive pronouncement on this matter which would obviate the delay that may be caused due to appeal. The matter was placed before the Chief Justice for appropriate directions regarding hearing of this petition and as ordered, the matter was placed before this Bench. The above Act No. 12 of 2000 was enacted to provide for the levy and collection of tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments in the State of Rajasthan. It received the assent of the Governor on the 9th day of May, 2000. Act extends to the whole of the State of Rajasthan. Section-3 of the Act deals with the power to make declaration under the Act, which reads as under : "subject to the provisions of Art. 276 of the Constitution of India and of this Act, there shall be levied and collected a tax on professions, traders, callings and employments at such rates not exceeding rupees two thousand five hundred per annum per individual person, as may be notified by the State Government in the Official Gazette. "
(3.) IN pursuance of the Rajasthan Provisional Collection of Tax Act, 1958 (Act No. 23 of 1958), it is declared that it is expedient in public interest that this Act No. 12/2000 shall have immediate effect under the said Act. IN the statement of Objects and Reasons it is stated that in order to increase the resource base, a tax on professions, trades, callings and employments is proposed to be imposed as an instrument for additional resource mobilisation. The terms `calling', `employee', `employer', `person', `profession', `salary' or `wage' and `tax' have been defined under Section 2 (c), 2 (g), 2 (h), 2 (l), 2 (o), 2 (p) and 2 (q) of the Act respectively, which are reproduced as under: "2 (c) "calling" - includes usual occupation, vocation, business or trade of a person; 2 (g) "employee" means a person employed on salary or wages; and (i) a Government servant receiving pay from the revenues of the Central Government or any State government or the Railway Fund; (ii) a person in the service of a body, whether incorporated or not, which is owned or controlled by the Central Government or any State Government, where the body operates in any part of the State, even though its headquarters may be outside the State; (iii) a person engaged in any employment of an employer, not covered by items (i) and (ii) above; 2 (h) "employer" in relation to an employee earning any salary or wages on regular basis under him means the person or the officer who is responsible for disbursement of such salary or wages and includes the head of the office of any establishment as well as the manager or agent of the employer. 2 (l) "person" means any individual or association or body of individuals and includes a Hindu Undivided Family or Joint Family, a firm, a company whether incorporated or not, a co- operative society, a trust, a club, an institution, an agency, a corporation, a local authority and a Department of the Central or the State Governments, engaged actively or otherwise in any profession, trade, calling or employment in the State of Rajasthan, but does not include any person who earns wages on a casual basis; 2 (o) "profession" means the occupation which one professes to be skilled in and by which a person mainly earns his livelihood; 2 (p) "salary" or "wage" includes pay or, dearness allowance and all other remunerations received by any individual on regular basis, whether payable in cash or kind and also includes perquisites and profits in lieu of salary, as defined in Sec. 17 of the INcome Tax Act, 1961 (Central Act No. 43 of 1961), but does not include bonus in any form, and on any account or gratuity; 2 (q) "tax" means the tax on professions, trades, callings and employments levied under this Act. " Section-3 which deals with levy of tax and its rate, is the charging section and reproduced above. Sections 4 and 5 of the Act are also reproduced as under: "4. Exemption from Tax- Notwithstanding any thing contained in this Act, where the State government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient in the public interest so to do, it may, by notification in the Official Gazette, exempt fully or partially, whether prospectively or retrospectively from tax any person or class of persons, without any condition or with such condition as may be specified in the notification. " "5. Employers' liability to deduct and pay tax on behalf of employees- The tax payable under this Act by any person earning a salary or wage, shall be deducted by his employer from the salary or wage payable to such person, before such salary or wage is paid to him, and such employer shall, irrespective of whether such deduction has been made or not, when the salary or wage is paid to such person, be liable to pay tax on behalf of all such persons; Provided that, if the employer is an officer of Government, the State Government may, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, prescribe by rules the manner in which such employer shall discharge the said liability: Provided further that, where any person earning a salary or wage is simultaneously engaged in employment of more than one employer, and such person furnishes to his employer or employers a certificate in the prescribed form declaring inter alia, that he shall get enrolled under sub Sec. (2) of Sec. 6 and pay and tax himself, then the employer or employers of such person shall not deduct the tax from the salary or wage payable to such person and such employer or employers, as the case may be, shall not be liable to pay tax on behalf of such person. " The State of Rajasthan while exercising powers conferred by Sec. 3 of the Rajasthan Tax on Professions, Trades, Callings and Employments Bill (Bill No. 6 of 2000) has notified by the Notification No. F. 4 (1) F. D. /tax Div. /2000-315 dated, 30. 03. 2000 as under : (1) That tax shall be levied under the said Bill from the persons, as enumerated in Clause 3 i. e. Salary or Wage Earners, Legal Practitioners, including Solicitors, Technical and Professional Consultants, including Architects, Engineers & Tax Consultants and Chartered Accountants etc. , at the rate mentioned in Clause 2, provided such person is Income Tax Payer in the immediately preceding year, and in case, such person has not paid any Income Tax, in the immediately preceding year, but is liable to pay tax, under the said Bill. (2) That the Tax shall be levied at the rate specified hereunder : S. No. Salary/wages/income (per month) Rate of Tax (per month) 1. Rs. 12,500/- or less Nil 2. Rs. 12,501/- to Rs. 16,500/- Rs. 100/- 3. Rs. 16,501/- to Rs. 20,000/- Rs. 150/- 4. Rs. 20,001/- and above Rs. 200/- NOTE : (I) That for the purpose of Clause 2 above, the term `salary' or `wage' will have the meaning as defined in Section 2 (p) of the said Bill, while the term "income" will have the meaning as defined under the Income Tax Act, 1961. (II) That the income as disclosed by the person duly supported by an affidavit will be accepted. However, Government in Finance Department can conduct test checking, if so required. (3) That the tax shall be levied at the rate specified in clause 2, from the following persons, provided they are covered in clause 1 above: S. No. Class of Persons 1. Salary or Wage earners 2. Legal Practitioners including Solicitors 3. Medical Practitioners including Medical Consultants and Dentists 4. Technical and Professional Consultants, including Architects, Engineers, Tax Consultants, Chartered Accountants, Actuaries and Management Consultants. ;