Uniform sales tax treatment for lottery tickets defeats discrimination challenge under Articles 301 and 304(a).

Sales tax on lottery tickets was upheld as within State legislative competence under Entry 54 of List II, and the challenged accounting method did not create unconstitutional discrimination. The text states that Tamil Nadu raffle tickets were taxed on face value less actual trade discount, with the tax incidence passed to the purchaser, and that lottery tickets from other States were subject to the same treatment. On that basis, the earlier vice of discrimination no longer survived, and the challenge under Articles 301 and 304(a) failed. The assessment procedure was therefore treated as uniform, with no exemption created for Tamil Nadu raffle tickets.

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Issues: Whether the method adopted by the assessing authorities for levying sales tax on lottery tickets of other States resulted in unconstitutional discrimination by exempting Tamil Nadu raffle tickets from tax, and whether the writ petitions challenging the assessments were liable to be allowed.

Analysis: The levy on lottery tickets had already been held to be within the legislative competence of the State under entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, and the earlier invalidated Government Orders had only attempted a different accounting procedure. On the materials before it, including the assessment order and the departmental affidavit, the Court found that Tamil Nadu raffle tickets were being taxed on the face value less the actual trade discount, with the tax incidence passed on to the purchaser, and that the same tax treatment applied to lottery tickets of other States. In that situation, the vice of discrimination noticed earlier no longer survived, and the challenge under articles 301 and 304(a) failed.

Conclusion: The assessment procedure did not create an exemption for Tamil Nadu raffle tickets, the levy was uniform, and the writ appeals had no merit.

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