Purchase tax on chillies upheld as the Act's delegation scheme was found sufficiently controlled and constitutional.

Chillies were held exigible to purchase tax under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act because the record did not establish that the dealers handled only green chillies, and dried chillies were not excluded merely because vegetables appeared in Schedule B when chillies were expressly listed for purchase tax in Schedule C. The constitutional challenge to section 31 also failed: the Act was treated as a complete tax code, and the requirement of prior public notice before adding or deleting goods supplied sufficient policy guidance and safeguards to prevent excessive delegation. The petitions were dismissed and both the levy and the delegation were sustained.

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Issues: Whether chillies were exigible to purchase tax under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act; and whether the power to include goods in Schedule C under section 31 of the Act was unconstitutional as amounting to excessive delegation.

Issue (i): Whether chillies were exigible to purchase tax under the Punjab General Sales Tax Act.

Analysis: The term "vegetables" in the Act was to be understood in its common parlance sense, but the issue could not be decided on the basis of a general description alone. The record did not show whether the petitioners dealt only in green chillies or also in dried chillies, and that factual controversy could not properly be resolved in proceedings under article 226 of the Constitution. The inclusion of "vegetables" in Schedule B did not by itself exclude dried chillies from Schedule C when chillies were expressly specified there for purchase tax.

Conclusion: The challenge to purchase tax liability on chillies was rejected and the petitioners were not entitled to relief on this issue.

Issue (ii): Whether the power to include goods in Schedule C under section 31 of the Act was unconstitutional as amounting to excessive delegation.

Analysis: The Act contained a complete tax scheme, including the legislative policy, the taxable goods, the rate structure, and an assessment machinery. Before any addition to or deletion from Schedule C, prior public notice had to be issued, which supplied adequate guidance and information. Read as a whole, the statute did not confer arbitrary power on the State Government, and the delegation was controlled by sufficient legislative policy and safeguards.

Conclusion: Section 31 was upheld and the constitutional challenge failed.

Final Conclusion: The petitions were dismissed, with the levy of purchase tax on the goods in question and the validity of the statutory delegation both sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory delegation is valid where the Act, read as a whole, lays down the legislative policy, identifies the taxable field, and provides safeguards and machinery sufficient to guide the delegated authority.

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