Taxing power does not extend to vehicle confiscation; confiscatory sales tax provision was held beyond legislative competence.

Entry 54 of List II was treated as authorising sales tax legislation and measures ancillary or incidental to preventing tax evasion, but not confiscation of a vehicle carrying goods merely to enforce the tax law. The confiscatory third proviso to section 22A(7) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, was therefore beyond the State Legislature's competence because confiscation was not fairly and reasonably comprehended within the taxing power. On that basis, the provision was declared ultra vires and the confiscation orders made under it were quashed.

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Issues: Whether the third proviso to section 22A(7) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, authorising confiscation of vehicles, was within the legislative competence of the State Legislature under Entry 54 of List II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India, and whether the confiscation orders passed thereunder were liable to be quashed.

Analysis: The field of legislation under Entry 54 of List II extends to taxes on the sale or purchase of goods and to matters ancillary or incidental to that power, including measures to prevent evasion of tax. However, confiscation of a vehicle carrying goods was held not to be fairly and reasonably comprehended within that taxing power. The reasoning followed the principle that a taxing entry does not authorise a measure of confiscation merely because it may assist tax enforcement. The provision was therefore beyond the legislative competence of the State Legislature, and the confiscation orders based on it could not stand.

Conclusion: The third proviso to section 22A(7) of the Rajasthan Sales Tax Act, 1954, was declared ultra vires, and the confiscation orders were quashed in favour of the petitioners.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the confiscatory provision succeeded, and the impugned confiscation actions were set aside as being beyond the State's taxing power.

Ratio Decidendi: A taxing entry permits ancillary measures to prevent evasion, but it does not extend to confiscation of vehicles unless such power is clearly within the legislative field conferred by the Constitution.

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