Judgement

Appeal (No. 14 of 1944) from a decree of the Federal Court of India exercising original jurisdiction (March 17, 1943) which dismissed an action brought by the appellant, the Governor-General in Council, as plaintiff, against the respondent, the Province of Madras, as defendant, claiming a declaration that the provisions of the Madras General Sales Tax Act, 1939, were ultra vires the legislature of the Province of Madras in so far as that Act imposed a tax on the manufacturer or producer of goods on the first sale thereof.

The main question raised by this appeal was whether a tax imposed on the manufacturer or producer of goods on the first sale thereof was, as the appellant contended and the respondent denied, a duty of excise within the meaning of entry 45 of the Federal Legislative List contained in the seventh schedule to the Government of India Act, 1935, and therefore within the exclusive legislative competence of the appellant. By s. 100 of the Government of India Act, 1935 "(1.) Notwithstanding anything in the two next succeeding subsections, the Federal Legislature has, and a Provincial Legislature has not, power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enu