The legislature's power to amend laws retroactively can validate prior actions invalidated by court decisions, maintaining separation of powers.

1 This batch of writ petitions challenges the legality of the General Sales Tax (Amendment) Act, 1960 (III of 1960). The aforesaid Act consists of 4 Sections. The first contains the Title, and the fourth is concerned with the repeal, which leaves the following sections:
"2. Amendment of S.5, Act XI of 1125--
(1) In S.5 of the General Sales Tax Act, 1125, (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act), for clause (vii), the following clause shall be substituted, namely :--
"(vii) the sale of goods specified in column (2) of Schedule I shall be liable to tax under S.3, sub-section (1), only at such single point in the series of sales by successive dealers as may be specified by the Government by notification in the Gazette ; and, where the taxable point so specified is a point of sale, the seller shall be liable for the tax on the turnover for which the goods are sold by him at such point, and where the taxable paint so specified h a point of purchase, the buyer shall be liable for the tax on the turnover for which the goods are bought by him at such point."
(2) The amendment made by sub-section (1) shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the first day of October, 1957."
"3. Validation of certain notifications, orders, etc.--
Notwithstanding anything contained in any judgment, decree or order of any Court --
(a) all notifications issued on or after the 28th day of September, 1957, by the Government in exercise of the powers conferred on them by clause (vii) of S.5 of the principal Act shall be deemed to have been issued under the principal Act as amended by this Act, on the respective dates on which the said notifications were issued :
Provided that Notification II No. H1-10674/57/RD-2, dated 28lh September, 1957, shall be deemed to have been issued on the first day of October, 1957;
(b) all taxes levied, assessed or collected in pursuance of the notifications issued under clause (vii) of S.5 of the Principal Act shall for all purposes be deemed to be and to have always been validly levied, assessed or collected; and
(c) all proceedings taken, orders passed and acts done by any officer, authority or Tribunal in pursuance of the notifications issued under clause (vii) of S.5 of the principal Act shall for all purposes be deemed to be and to have always been validly taken, passed and done, and all such proceedings, orders and actions may be contained as if the notifications in pursuance of which they were taken, passed or done were issued under clause (vii) of S.5 of the principal Act as amended by this Act:
Provided that nothing in this Act shall render any person liable to be convicted of an offence in respect of anything done or omitted to be done by him before the date of publication of this Act in the Gazette, if such act or omission was not an offence under the principal Act at the aforesaid date but for the provisions of this Act."

2 The circumstances, that preceded the aforesaid Act, may be shortly narrated. The tax under the principal Act, No. XI of 1125, is charged under S.3(1), which provides that, subject to other provisions, every dealer should pay for each year a tax on his total turnover for such year; and the tax would be calculated at the rates specified in column (3) of Schedule I for every rupee in the turnover relating to the goods noted against them in column (2) thereof, and at the rate of two naye paise for every rupee ia the turnover relating to all other goods. S.3(4) enacts that for the purposes of the Section, the turnover should be determined in accordance with the prescribed Rules ; and S.3 (5) that the buyer or the seller, but not both, should be taxed in respect of the same transaction of sale, and where a dealer has been taxed in respect of the purchase of any goods, he should not again be taxed in respect of any sale of such goods effected by him. The two terms of 'turnover' and 'prescribed' used in the Section, have been defined earlier in S.2, by which 'turnover' is to mean the aggregate a