TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1984 (12) TMI 278
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.... That levy is questioned by means of this writ petition. The levy of surcharge has been questioned, inter alia, on the grounds (1) that section 4-A of the Jammu and Kashmir General Sales Tax Act, 1962 as amended is violative of article 14 of the Constitution of India, (2) that section 4-A contravenes articles 19(1)(f) and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution of India, (3) that the levy of surcharge is a tax on the income and, therefore, suffers from the vice of double taxation, (4) that section 4-A is hit by article 276(2) of the Constitution of India, for, the section does not limit the levy of surcharge to a maximum of Rs. 250 as provided under article 276(2) of the Constitution of India, (5) that the levy of surcharge under section 4-A is unc....
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....n enhancement in the rate of the sales tax when the turnover of the dealer exceeds the specified limit and is, therefore, a tax on the aggregate of sales effected by the dealer during the year. In view of the authority of the Supreme Court, the first four grounds of attack as noticed above, must be repelled and in fairness to the learned counsel for the petitioners we must record that they conceded that these grounds of attack, in view of the Supreme Court judgment, noticed above, do not survive. In so far as the fifth ground of attack is concerned, no factual matrix has been laid in the petition. All that is stated is that the levy of surcharge under section 4-A is violative of article 286(3) of the Constitution of India read with secti....
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....s well-settled that there is a presumption in favour of constitutionality and keeping in view the vague assertions and after considering the argument raised at the Bar, we are unable to hold that section 4-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Sales Tax Act, 1962 as amended is violative of section 15 of the Central Sales Tax Act or erodes article 286 of the Constitution of India. We accordingly hold that the said section is not violative of article 286 of the Constitution of India. Coming now to the last ground of attack, with a view to appreciate the submission raised at the Bar it would be advantageous to first notice the provisions of section 4-A of the Jammu and Kashmir Sales Tax Act, 1962 as amended. Section 4-A was inserted in the Act in 1974....
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....s inserted in 1974, specifically provided that surcharge at the prescribed rate would be levied on a dealer if his turnover "for every year" exceeded Rs. 2.5 lacs. The Legislature, in using that expression in its supreme wisdom considered that to make a dealer liable to pay surcharge, his turnover for every year must have exceeded 2.5 lacs from the date the aforesaid section was incorporated in the statute book. Subsequently, however, in 1978, the Legislature substituted the words "for every year" by the expression" for any year" implying thereby that a dealer was liable to pay surcharge if in "any year " his turnover exceeded 2.5 lacs irrespective of the fact whether the turnover continuously from 1978 onwards exceeded 2.5 lacs. The change....