Repeal and saving clause preserved prosecution for a pre-repeal sales tax offence under the earlier statute.

Section 40(1) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 preserved liabilities, penalties and punishments arising under the repealed Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948, and also saved investigations and legal proceedings in respect of such offences. On that basis, prosecution for an offence alleged to have been committed under section 20(1)(a) of the 1948 Act could continue after repeal, because the repeal did not extinguish the State's right to proceed for a pre-repeal offence. The magistrate's acquittal therefore could not stand.

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Issues: Whether, after the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948 was repealed by the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957, the State could continue prosecution for offences alleged to have been committed under the repealed Act.

Analysis: The saving provision in section 40(1) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1957 preserved the previous operation of the repealed enactments, liabilities incurred thereunder, and any penalty or punishment incurred in respect of offences committed against them. It also expressly saved any investigation, legal proceeding or remedy in respect of such liability or punishment, and permitted such proceedings to be instituted, continued or enforced as if the new Act had not been passed. The offence alleged against the respondent was one punishable under section 20(1)(a) of the Mysore Sales Tax Act, 1948, and the repeal did not extinguish the State's right to prosecute for that pre-repeal offence.

Conclusion: The prosecution was saved by the repealing and saving clause, and the acquittal ordered by the Magistrate could not stand.

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