Purchase tax levy sustained where pari materia provisions were already upheld and no factual challenge to assessment was pleaded.

Purchase tax under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act was treated as maintainable in light of binding precedent upholding similar levy provisions, and the Punjab and Haryana High Court applied the same reasoning because the Haryana provisions earlier considered were pari materia. A further challenge to the tax amount, based on incidental charges, was not entertained because the writ petition contained no specific prayer against any assessment order and no factual foundation for that plea. The commentary therefore records that the levy was left undisturbed and no writ relief was granted.

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Issues: Whether the levy of purchase tax under section 4-B and section 5(3)(a)(ii) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the connected notifications, could be struck down as ultra vires, and whether the petitioner could raise a challenge to the amount of tax in the absence of a specific pleading and prayer.

Analysis: The Court found that the validity of the impugned levy could not be reopened in view of the binding pronouncements of the Supreme Court and the High Court dealing with similar purchase tax provisions. It further held that the Haryana provisions earlier considered by the courts were pari materia with the Punjab provisions, so the same principles applied. The Court also declined to entertain a challenge to the tax amount based on incidental charges because the writ petition contained no specific challenge to any assessment order and no factual foundation for that plea.

Conclusion: The challenge to the levy failed, and the writ petition was dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned purchase tax provisions and the connected levy were upheld in effect, and no relief was granted to the petitioner.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statutory provisions are pari materia with provisions already upheld or effectively governed by binding precedent, and the petition lacks a specific factual challenge to the assessment, the levy cannot be invalidated in writ proceedings.

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