Single petition under Article 226 yields one appeal and one set of court-fees despite multiple assessment orders.

Where a single petition under Article 226 consolidated challenges to multiple assessment orders and produced one High Court judgment, the legal principle applied is that consolidation creates one proceeding and therefore one appeal; precedents concerning multiple separate reference proceedings under tax law were distinguished as involving distinct proceedings and separate appeals. Consequently the direction to treat the matter as nine appeals and demand nine sets of court-fees was invalidated, with the appellant liable for only one set of court-fees and any excess fees ordered refunded.

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Issues: Whether the Deputy Registrar correctly directed registration of the petition as nine appeals and required nine sets of court-fees where a single petition under Article 226 challenged multiple assessment orders.

Analysis: The matter arose from one petition under Article 226 of the Constitution challenging several assessment orders together; there was a single proceeding before the High Court and a single appeal to this Court. Precedents relied upon dealt with multiple separate reference proceedings or multiple reference applications under the Income-tax Act which constituted distinct proceedings and separate appeals. Those authorities do not apply to a case originating from one petition consolidating multiple assessment orders. Where one petition comprises all challenges and produces one judgment, there exists only one appeal to this Court and only one proceeding for purposes of court-fees and registration.

Conclusion: The appellant is liable to pay only one set of court-fee and related charges; the direction to register as nine appeals and to require nine sets of court-fees is set aside, and excess charges, if any, shall be refunded.

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