Retrospective withdrawal of tax exemption is invalid without express statutory authority; notification operates only from publication.

A notification withdrawing goods from Schedule B under section 6(2) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948 could not validly take effect from a date earlier than its publication. The Court reasoned that delegated power to amend the tax-free schedule did not include an implied power to impose retrospective tax liability unless the statute expressly authorised retrospectivity. The notification was therefore effective only prospectively from the date of publication; the retrospective portion was invalid and quashed.

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Issues: Whether a notification issued under section 6(2) of the Punjab General Sales Tax Act, 1948, withdrawing goods from Schedule B, could validly operate retrospectively from a date earlier than its publication.

Analysis: Section 6(2) empowered the State Government to amend the schedule by notification after giving notice. The notification in question removed the relevant items from the tax-free schedule with effect from an earlier date, thereby imposing tax retrospectively on goods that had remained exempt until publication. Such withdrawal of tax-free status could operate only from the date of publication of the notification and not from any prior date.

Conclusion: The retrospective part of the notification was invalid and was quashed, while its operation from the date of publication was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: A notification withdrawing a tax exemption under delegated power cannot be given retrospective effect unless the statute expressly authorises such retrospectivity; in the absence of such authority, it operates only prospectively from publication.

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