Presidential assent and invalid charging provision barred taxation of essential goods under the State notification.

A State notification withdrawing tax-free treatment from edible oils was held unsustainable because the taxing scheme depended on a charging provision that could not operate where the goods had been declared essential for the life of the community without Presidential assent. The court treated the charging section as the kernel of the enactment and held that ancillary provisions and related notifications could not survive its invalidity. It also rejected the argument that earlier provisions continued independently, since the taxing machinery was inseparable from the defective charge. The notification was therefore invalid, and the reference was answered in favour of the assessees.

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Issues: Whether the notification dated 5 August 1954, which withdrew tax-free treatment from edible oils, was valid when the goods had been declared essential for the life of the community and the notification had not received the President's assent.

Analysis: The taxing scheme was examined as a whole. The charging provision was treated as the kernel of the enactment, and the ancillary provisions in the statute were held to depend upon its validity. The Court further held that the relevant Central law imposed a constitutional restraint on any post-commencement State law authorising tax on goods declared essential for the life of the community, unless the law had been reserved for the President and had received assent. Since the impugned notification operated through the amended taxing regime and no presidential assent had been obtained, the notification could not be sustained. The plea that earlier provisions survived independently was rejected because the taxing machinery could not stand apart from the invalidity affecting the charging provision.

Conclusion: The notification was invalid and the question referred was answered against the State and in favour of the assessees.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the charging provision of a taxing enactment is ineffective or unconstitutional, ancillary provisions and notifications issued under it cannot survive, and a State measure imposing tax on goods declared essential by Parliament cannot operate without presidential assent.

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