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2008 (5) TMI 638 - HC - VAT and Sales TaxVires of M.P. Sthaniya Kshetra Me Mal Ke Pravesh Par Kar Adhiniyam, 1976 - constitutional validity of the notifications issued under the 1976 Act - whether the petitioners are entitled in law to assail the validity of the 1976 Act in the changed factual scenario? Held that: - there is no material change in the nature and character of the impugned tax with the passage of time nor can it be said that the rate of tax has been, with the passage of time, increased to such an extent as to render the tax confiscatory and non-compensatory - the State has successfully demonstrated that the impugned tax is compensatory in nature and has not lost its character of being compensatory with the passage of time as alleged by the petitioners. As far as the challenge to the constitutional validity of the several notifications issued by the State, mostly under Section 4A of the Act, on the ground that few persons and goods have been selected for the purposes of imposing higher rate of tax, is concerned, the issues stand concluded by various judgments of this Court wherein prescriptions of such higher rates under Section 4A were held to be valid. Though the petitioners have also challenged the notifications on the ground that they violate Article 301 as well as Articles 14 and 19 of Constitution of India on the ground that the rates of tax have been increased to such an extent that it has become an impediment and hindrance to trade with the passage of time, as noted in the preceding paragraph, the petitioners have neither alleged nor given figures to demonstrate and establish that there has been any decline or loss in the business income of the trade or earning of the petitioners as a result of increase in the rate of entry tax, nor have they, in any manner, stated or demonstrated that the impugned levy has adversely affected their trade and, therefore, constitutes a direct and immediate impediment on trade and is non-compensatory. Petition dismissed.
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