JAGDISH SAHAI, J. :- In these two writ petitions, the vires of the Gift Tax Act (No. 18 of 1958) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) has been challenged. In writ petition No. 566 of 1961, however, the order of the Gift Tax Officer also has been assailed on the ground that no finding has been recorded to the effect that the impugned transaction was mala fide and could not for that reason be a gift.

2. As the main question raised in the two writ petitions is a common one, we proceed to dispose them of by means of this common judgment.

3. We would first deal with the submission made by the learned counsel for the petitioner in the two petitions that the Act is ultra vires of the Parliament. Mr. Gopi Nath Kunzru, who has appeared for the petitioner in writ petition No. 1291 of 1959, has contended that neither the Central Legislature nor the State Legislature could pass the impugned law. Mr. S. P. Gupta who has appeared in writ petition No. 566 of 1961 has however submitted that the impugned legislation is bad so far as it includes in its ambit the imposition of tax even on gifts of land and buildings. Relying upon Entry 49 of List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution