Parliamentary approval for delegated legislation is mandatory before a Schedule I amendment can sustain cess on hydro power generation.

Cess could not validly be levied on the hydro power generating industry unless that industry was lawfully brought within Schedule I of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977. Section 16 required the Central Government's notification amending Schedule I to be laid before Parliament and then approved by resolution; mere laying was insufficient. Because no approving resolution was shown to have been moved, the condition precedent for a valid amendment was not met. The Schedule I amendment was therefore invalid, and the cess levy on hydro power generation was unlawful and unsustainable.

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Issues: Whether cess could validly be levied on the hydro power generating industry under the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act, 1977, in the absence of compliance with the procedure prescribed for amending Schedule I.

Analysis: The levy depended on the industry being brought within Schedule I as a specified industry. Section 16 empowered the Central Government to amend Schedule I by notification, but subsection (2) required the notification to be laid before Parliament and then to receive Parliamentary approval by resolution. Mere laying of the notification before each House was not enough. The record showed that no resolution approving the notification had in fact been moved, so the condition precedent for a valid amendment of Schedule I was not satisfied.

Conclusion: The amendment to Schedule I was not validly made, and the levy of cess on the hydro power generating industry was unlawful and unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute makes delegated legislation conditional on Parliamentary approval, compliance with the approval mechanism is mandatory, and mere laying of the notification before Parliament does not by itself bring the amendment into force.

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