Pre-commencement rule-making under the General Clauses Act validated sales tax rules and sustained penalty orders.

Section 22 of the General Clauses Act permits rules to be made after an enactment is passed but before it commences, and those rules take effect only when the Act comes into force. Because section 29 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 applied the General Clauses Act to the Act, the rules published on 28 March 1955 were within the rule-making power despite an inconsistent commencement clause in the rules. They were therefore treated as validly operative from 1 April 1955, and the penalty orders were not invalid on the ground that no valid rules existed during the relevant period.

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Issues: Whether the rules published before the commencement of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, were validly made and capable of taking effect from the commencement of the Act by virtue of the General Clauses Act, 1897 read with the Act.

Analysis: Section 22 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 authorises the making of rules during the interval between the passing and commencement of an enactment, though such rules do not take effect until the Act comes into force. Section 29 of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954 applies the General Clauses Act for interpretation of the Act. The rules published on 28 March 1955 were therefore within the rule-making power, and the apparent commencement clause in the rules had to yield to the statutory restriction. On this basis, the rules were to be treated as validly operative from 1 April 1955.

Conclusion: The rules were validly made and effective from 1 April 1955; the penalty orders were not vitiated on the ground that no valid rules existed during the relevant period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the parent Act applies the General Clauses Act for interpretation, section 22 of the General Clauses Act permits pre-commencement rule-making, and such rules become operative only from the commencement of the Act notwithstanding an inconsistent commencement clause in the rules.

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