( 1 ) THE principal question raised in all these petitions relate to the constitutionality of the Gift Tax Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act) in so far as it seeks to levy tax on gifts of agricultural land.

( 2 ) THE Act was passed by the Parliament in the beginning of 1958 and received the assent of the President on 15-5-1958. The report of the Indian Taxation Enquiry Commission, 1953-54 to the Government of India considered the introduction of gift tax in India. The commission remarked that a gift tax though appeared in theory to be an attractive proposition, required considerable experience of the opinion of Estate duty before it could be introduced in this country. A year or two later Prof. Kalder, Reader in Economics. University of Cambridge was invited by the Government of India to examine this question and he made his report to the Union Government in March 1956. His proposal was that a single integrated tax should he imposed on sifts of all kinds (including under this term accession to property through be-quest and inheritance), which should replace the present estate duty as well as to bring into charge other gratuitous transfers of property which are no