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TMI Blog1964 (7) TMI 57X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... stered gift deed dated the 14th April, 1959. A notice dated the 19th December, 1960, was received by the petitioner from the Gift-tax Officer, Karnal, for filing of return of the gifts made by her under section 13(2) of the Act. The petitioner submitted a return giving the necessary details of the gift. Various dates thereafter were given to the petitioner for giving proof of the valuation of the gifted property. A further notice under section 15(2) of the Act was received by the petitioner on the 31st August, 1961, from the Gift-tax Officer with respect to the return filed by her. The case of the pe?itioner is that the Gift-tax Officer had no jurisdiction to issue notices under sections 13(2) and 15(2) of the Act, and the above-mentioned n ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... specified in the schedule. The effect of section 4 is to include certain types of transfers within the definition of gift. Section 13 requires every person, who has made a taxable gift during the previous year, to furnish to the Gift-tax Officer a return in the prescribed form, while sub- section (2) of that section gives a power to the Gift-tax Officer to serve a notice upon such person requiring him to furnish the return within the prescribed time. Section 15 deals with the assessment of gift-tax, while section 19 makes provisions for the payment of gift-tax by the legal representatives of a person from his estate in case he dies before the payment of such tax. Section 29 enacts that gift-tax shall be payable by the donor, but where in t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uld not be justified in inferring the powers of taxation with respect to a subject from the mere fact that a legislature has been empowered to make laws with respect to that subject. Close scrutiny of Lists I and II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution reveals that the Constitution has treated the powers of legislation with respect to a subject and that of levying a tax with respect to that subject separately for purposes of legislative competence. In List 1, Entries 1 to 81 contain the several matters over which Parliament has authority to legislate, while Entries 82 to 92 enumerate the taxes which can be imposed by a law of Parliament. Examination of these two groups of entries reveals that while the main subject of legislation is ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rs and alienations of agricultural land. The main contention of Mr. Mittal, however, is based upon Entry 49 of List II according to which it is the State legislature which is competent to make laws with respect to taxes on lands and buildings. It is urged that a tax on gift of land is a tax on land, and as such it is only the State legis- lature which can levy it. I have given the matter my consideration and am of the view that Entry 49 relates to taxes on lands and buildings simpliciter and not to taxes on transactions of transfers relating to lands and buildings. Gift-tax is a tax not on property but on transactions relating to property and as such does not fall within the ambit of Entry 49. The occasion for the imposition of gift-t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... k however that none of the items in the Lists is to be read in a narrow or restricted sense, and that each general word should be held to extend to all ancillary or subsidiary matters which can fairly and reasonably be said to be comprehended in it. The above observations were followed by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in Navinchandra Mafatlal v. Commissioner of Income-tax [1954] 26 I.T.R. 758; [1955] 1 S.C.R. 829) and Chaturbhai M. Patel v. Union of India([1960] 2 S.C.R. 362). In my opinion there can be no dispute so far as the proposition enunciated above, which has received the imprimatur of the highest court in the land, is concerned, but the petitioner cannot derive much advantage from it because the power to tax gift of land ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndhra Pradesh, Kerala and Madras High Courts and hold that the contention that Parliament in enacting the impugned Act made an encroachment on the field of the legislative competence of the State legislature is not well ?ounded. The impugned Act in pith and sub- stance does not, in my view, fall within the ambit of Entry 49 of List II. No other entry has been relied upon by the learned counsel for the parties, and in the circumstances I would hold that the power to make law with respect to the Gift-tax Act is covered by Entry 97 of List I (Union List) of the Seventh Schedule read with article 248 of the Constitution which gives the residuary powers of legislation to Parliament and reads as under: Entry 97.--Any other matter not enume ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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