P RAMACHANDRA RAO VERSUS Vs. AITO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner in these two petitions is an assessee under the Agricultural Income Tax Act, 1950. He challenges the validity of the assessments for the assessment years 1958-59 and 1959-60 in so far as they relate to his income from the cultivation of tobacco. According to him the levy of an agricultural income tax on the income from the cultivation of tobacco is in substance and in effect the levy of an excise duty and hence beyond the powers of the State Legislature under the Constitution of India.

(2.) There can be no doubt that if the tax amounts to an excise duty, the contention of the assessee has to be sustained and these petitions allowed. Duties of excise on tobacco come under Entry 84 of the Union List & Art.246(1) of the Constitution specifically provides that Parliament has the exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in that list.

(3.) The only question for determination, therefore, is whether a tax on the income derived from the cultivation of tobacco amounts to a duty of excise within the ambit of Entry 84 of the Union List or only to a tax on agricultural income within the meaning of Entry 46 of the State List. In every case where the legislative competence of a legislature in regard to a particular enactment is challenged with reference to the entries in the various lists it is of course necessary as pointed out by the Supreme Court in