Prospective operation of estate duty notification barred tax on agricultural land before the State was brought into the charging provision.

Estate duty on agricultural land under the Estate Duty Act was tied to the State being brought within the charging schedule by notification under Section 5(2). The text states that Madras State became included only from the date of the notification, so the Act could not be applied retrospectively to a death occurring before that date. It also notes that the constitutional allocation of legislative power under Articles 246 and 252 did not permit earlier operation through State adoption of the Central Act. On that basis, the text concludes that estate duty was not leviable and relief followed.

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Issues: Whether estate duty was leviable on agricultural lands situated in Madras State where the deceased died before the publication of the notification issued under Section 5(2) of the Estate Duty Act, 1953.

Analysis: The Act, as a charging statute, covered agricultural lands in a State only when that State was brought within the First Schedule. Madras State was added to the Schedule only upon publication of the notification under Section 5(2). The constitutional scheme under Article 246 and Article 252 distinguished between the legislative competence of Parliament and the State in relation to agricultural land. The adoption of the Central Act by the State Legislature could not operate retrospectively before the date from which the statute itself made the State part of the charging provision. The statutory fiction in Section 5(2) indicated that the State was deemed included only from the date of the notification, and there was no express or implied retrospective operation earlier than that date.

Conclusion: Estate duty was not leviable on the agricultural lands where the death occurred before the notification dated 11-6-1955 took effect; the answer to the referred question was in the negative and the assessee was entitled to relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A Central Act adopted by a State under Article 252 operates prospectively in that State according to its own terms, and a charging provision extending only from the date of a statutory notification cannot be applied to deaths occurring before that date.

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