Exclusive federal power over salt barred municipal octroi, making the tax ultra vires despite general entry-tax competence.
A municipal octroi duty on salt was held invalid because salt fell within the exclusive federal field, and the constitutional scheme barred provincial taxation of a matter specifically assigned to the Centre. The court read the provincial power to levy entry cesses subject to the unqualified federal entry for salt, and held that a general power over taxes on entry of goods could not override that specific exclusion. Section 100(1) prevented provincial legislation on the subject, and Section 140(1) did not change that result. The impost was therefore ultra vires and the challenge failed.
Issues: Whether the municipal octroi duty imposed on salt was within the competence of the Provincial/Municipal authority in view of the constitutional distribution of legislative power and the exclusive federal entry for salt.
Analysis: The relevant constitutional scheme was construed by reading the provincial power to levy cesses on entry of goods for consumption, use or sale together with the federal entry placing salt within the exclusive field of the Centre. The Court held that the reference to salt in the federal list was unqualified and could not be read down as excluding taxation by implication. Section 100(1) of the Constitution Act operated to bar provincial legislation in respect of a matter specifically included in the exclusive federal list, and Section 140(1) did not alter that result. The Court further held that the existence of a general provincial power over entry taxes could not override the specific exclusion created by the federal entry for salt.
Conclusion: The impost on salt was ultra vires the municipal authority and invalid; the appeal therefore failed.
Ratio Decidendi: Where a subject is placed without qualification in the exclusive federal list, the provincial legislature is barred from imposing a tax on that subject notwithstanding a general provincial entry for taxes on the entry of goods.
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