Residuary trade tax notification valid where enabling law allowed concessional treatment for any goods and no arbitrariness was shown.

A residuary notification issued under section 4-B of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948 was upheld as intra vires because the enabling provision allowed concessional tax or exemption in respect of "any goods" and did not require each item to be individually named. The court noted that the statutory scheme permitted a recognition certificate for goods used in manufacture, that earlier similar notifications had been issued, and that the exclusion of distilleries and breweries showed application of mind. A uniform concessional rate was treated as fiscal rationalisation, and the notification was not shown to be arbitrary or inconsistent with Article 14.

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Issues: Whether the notification dated 21 May 1994 issued under section 4-B of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Tax Act, 1948 was ultra vires for not specifically enumerating the notified goods and for allegedly imposing an arbitrary and unreasonable tax structure.

Analysis: Section 4-B(1)(a) permits the State Government to grant concessional tax or exemption in respect of any goods purchased by a dealer holding a recognition certificate, and the expression "any goods" is of wide amplitude. Section 4-B(2) contemplates grant of a recognition certificate in relation to goods required for use in manufacture, but the statutory scheme does not compel the notification to list every item by name. A residuary notification covering all goods except those excluded by the proviso is within the statutory power, especially when similar residuary notifications had been issued earlier. The exclusion of distilleries and breweries showed application of mind. Exemption is not a vested right, and the shift from varying rates or full exemption to a uniform concessional rate of two per cent was a fiscal rationalisation within the latitude allowed in taxation matters. The notification was neither shown to be arbitrary nor inconsistent with article 14.

Conclusion: The notification was held to be intra vires and valid, and the challenge failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the enabling provision confers a wide power to notify concessional tax or exemption in respect of "any goods", the State Government may issue a residuary fiscal notification applying uniformly to a class of goods and dealers without specifically naming each item, so long as the measure remains within the statutory scheme and is not arbitrary.

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