The power to legislate on general subjects, including taxation, is distinct from the power to legislate on specific topics listed in the legislative lists.

( 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 not now taxable. The suggestion of Prof. Kaldor to abolish estate duty with the introduction of gift tax was evidently not accepted and today THe Estate Duty Act and the Gift Tax Act exist side by side. The gift tax is a well known system of tax obtaining in several countries of the world such as the United States of America, Canada, Australia, Netherlands and New Zealand, Generally the purpose of the Gift Tax Act is to prevent the avoidance of estate duty and income-tax by reaching transactions which would otherwise escape taxation. In order to evade estate duty or tax on higher incomes, the tendency of the people will be to make gifts inter vivos and thereby split up large fortunes which will result in the diminution of sur taxes etc. The gift tax has been resorted to as a safeguard against these things.

( 3 ) THE charging section in the Act is Section 3. That authorises a levy of a tax on all gifts made by a person during the previous year at the rate or rates specified to the schedule annexed to the Act. Gift is defined in Section 2 (xii) as `the transfer by one person to another of any existing movable or Immovable property made voluntarily and without consideration in money or moneys worth, and includes the transfer of any property deemed to be a gift under Section

( 4 ) "taxable gifts" are defined as "gifts chargeable to Gift Tax under the Act. " We will refer to the definition of previous year in the appropriate context. The Act exempts certain gifts under Section

( 5 ) THE Act also gives power to Gift Tax Officers to call upon donors to file return of gifts for the relevant year. It has set up a machinery for the enforcement of the provisions of the Act. Section 46 of the Act has conferred rule-making power upon the Central Board of Revenue for carrying out the purposes of this Act Pursuant to this, rules were framed by the said Board. Standard rates were also prescribed in the schedule appearing at the end of the Act and forming an integral part of the Act4. The validity of the Act in so far as it affects agricultural land is attacked on the Ground that it was beyond the competence of Parliament to make laws concerning agriculturul land. The contention pressed upon us is that the power to make laws with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List II is exclusively vested in State Legislatures and consequently it is not competent for the Parliament to legislate on any subject within the domain of State legislatures. It is urged that entry 18 of list II mentions "land, that if to say, rights in or over land, land tenures including the relation of landlord and tenant and the collection of rents; transfer and alienation of agricultural land; land improvement and agricultural loans; colonization", that on the topic of and committed to the spher