Civil Appeal No 364 of 1969
From the Judgment and order dated 7 8 1968 of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Civil Writ No 219968
section N Anand and R N Sachthey for the Appellant
Arvind Minocha for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by UNTWALIA J
The Chief Commissioner Union Territory Chandigarh has preferred this appeal by certificate from the decision of the High Court of Punjab  Haryana allowing the Writ Petition of the respondent and declaring the amendment of item 30 in Schedule to the Punjab General Sales Tax Act 1948 hereinafter referred to as the Act invalid
The composite and the then existing State of Punjab was re organised by the  Central Act 31 of 1966
The Union Territory of Chandigarh was carved out as one of the States on and from November 1 1966
Under section 6 of the Act no tax was payable on the sale of goods specified in Schedule B
The State Government could amend this Schedule and at the relevant time the power so conferred on the State Government was in the following terms The State Government after giving by notification not less than three months  notice of its intention so to do may by like notification add or delete from Schedule and there upon Schedule shall be deemed to be amended accordingly
 Item 30 of Schedule exempted from sales tax All varieties of cotton woollen or silken textiles including rayon artificial silk or nylon whether manufactured by handloom or powerloom or otherwise but not including car pets druggets woollen durees and cotton floor durees On August 24 1966 the State Government of the composite State of Punjab issued a notification giving three months  notice of its intention to amend Schedule to exclude pure silken fabrics from the list of tax free goods
But before the expiry of three months and before 136 any further notification could be issued by the State Government as required by section 6 of the Act the Union Territory of Chandigarh came into existence on November 1 1966
The Government of the Union Territory issued a notification dated January 4 1968 amending item 30 as intended to be amended by the notification dated August 241966 issued by the State Government of the composite State of Punjab
The respondent filed a writ petition in the High Court challenging this notification as being invalid on the ground that the earlier notification could not be availed of by the new Government for amending Schedule B
The stand taken on behalf of the appellant was that the earlier notification was a law in force within the meaning of section 88 of Central Act 31 of 1966
The High Court repelled this argument and in our opinion rightly
It is plain on the wordings of section 6 of the Act extracted above that a notification merely notifying the intention of the State Government to add or delete from Schedule any article by itself had no force of law until and unless on the expiry of the period of three months a like notification was issued amending the Schedule
The erstwhile State Government of Punjab could not issue a second notification in respect of the Union Territory after it ceased to be a part of the State of Punjab
Sales tax could not be charged on pure silken fabrics by the said State Government on October 31 1966 merely by virtue of the notification dated August 24 1966
It was therefore not a law in force when the composite State was re organised
Section 88 of the runs as follows The provisions of shall not be deemed to have f effected any change in the territories to which any law in force immediately before the appointed day extends or applies and territorial references in any such law to the State of Punjab shall until otherwise provided by a competent 
Legislature or other competent authority be construed as meaning the territories within that State immediately before the appointed day
 It is clear that there was no law in force on November 1 1966 which could enable the Union Territory to levy any sales tax on pure silken fabrics
Mr section N Anand endeavoured to attack the judgment of the High Court by taking a new stand in this Court that the notification dated August 24 1966 could enure to the benefit of and be availed by the Union Territory Government
But he failed to point out any provision L in Act 31 of 1966 or any other law to substantiate this argument
No 137 deeming provision could be brought to our notice as there is none to show that the notification issued by the erstwhile State Government of Punjab could be deemed to be one issued by the new Government of the Union Territory
For many other purposes there are deeming provisions in Central Act 31 of 1966 eg sections 591 741 and 92
But no provision is to be found to show that by a legal fiction the first notification of intention issued by the erstwhile State Government could be deemed to be a notification issued by the new Government The argument thus presented by Mr Anand must be rejected
Learned counsel for the appellant placed reliance upon the principle of law enunciated in paragraph 12 at page 1749 in the decision of this Court in Ms Ratan Lal and Co and another etc vs The Assessing Authority Patiala and another etc1
The principle stated therein is that the new legislature of the new State after the re organisation of the composite State could amend the existing law retrospectively from a date anterior to the date of reorganisation
Obviously the view expressed in the decision aforesaid is so very different that it cannot be of any help to the appellant in this case
For the reasons stated above we dismiss the appeal with costs
PBR Appeal dismissed


Summary:
Section 6 of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act 1948 provides that the State Government after giving by notification not less than three months  notice of its intention so to do may by like notification add or delete from Schedule and thereupon Schedule shall be deemed to be amended accordingly
The State Government of the composite State of Punjab issued a notification under section 6 giving its intention to delete from Schedule pure silken fabrics from the list of tax free goods
Before the issue of any further notification however the composite State was reorganised and the Union Territory of Chandigarh was formed
The Government of the Union Territory of Chandigarh issued a notification amending item 30 of Schedule as intended to be amended by the notification issued by the former government
In a writ petition filed before the High Court the respondent challenged the notification as invalid on the ground that the earlier notification could not be availed of by the new Government for amending Schedule B
The appellant claimed that the earlier notification was law in force
But the High Court repelled this argumenet It allowed the respondent s writ Dismissing the appeal  HELD 1
There was no law in force enabling the newly formed Union Territory of Chandigarh to levy any sales tax on pure silken fabrics
The notification merely notifying the intention of the State Government to add or delete from Schedule any article by itself had no force of law until and unless on the expiry of the period of three months a like notification was issued amending the Schedule
The erstwhile State Government of Punjab could not issue the second notification in respect of the Union Territory after it ceased to be a part of the State of Punjab
Sales Tax could not be charged on pure silken fabrics by the said State Government merely by virtue of the notification
It was therefore not a law in force when the composite State was reorganised
136D E 135 3
No provision is to be found in the Act to show that by a legal fiction the A first notification of intention issued by the erstwhile State Government could be deemed to be a notification issued by the new Government
137 B Ms Rattan Lal and Co and another etc
vs The Assessing Authority Patiala and another etc
AIR 1970 SC 1742 held inapplicable