Municipal profession tax notifications survive only within constitutional ceilings, and excess levy is invalid for each relevant period.

A municipal tax on professions, trades and callings could be recovered only within the constitutional ceiling applicable to the relevant period. For the pre-Constitution period governed by the Government of India Act, 1935, the levy was valid only up to Rs. 50 per person per annum and was invalid beyond that limit. After the Constitution and the U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, Article 276(2) fixed the maximum at Rs. 250 per person per annum; the saving proviso preserved the tax as a class, but the notification had to be read down so its operation remained within that ceiling.

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Issues: (i) Whether the tax on professions, trades and callings levied under the notification could validly be recovered beyond the ceiling of Rs. 50 per person per annum for the period governed by the Government of India Act, 1935. (ii) Whether, after the Constitution and after the coming into force of the U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, the notification and the tax continued to be valid only up to the constitutional ceiling of Rs. 250 per person per annum.

Issue (i): Whether the tax on professions, trades and callings levied under the notification could validly be recovered beyond the ceiling of Rs. 50 per person per annum for the period governed by the Government of India Act, 1935.

Analysis: The constitutional limitation under Section 142(2) of the Government of India Act, 1935 restricted the total amount payable by way of taxes on professions, trades, callings and employments to Rs. 50 per annum in respect of any one person. The levy created by the notification could operate only within that limit, and to the extent it exceeded that ceiling it was inconsistent with the constitutional restriction.

Conclusion: The levy was valid only up to Rs. 50 per person per annum for the pre-Constitution period and was invalid beyond that limit.

Issue (ii): Whether, after the Constitution and after the coming into force of the U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959, the notification and the tax continued to be valid only up to the constitutional ceiling of Rs. 250 per person per annum.

Analysis: Article 276(2) of the Constitution of India fixed the maximum levy at Rs. 250 per annum. The proviso to Section 172 of the U.P. Nagar Mahapalika Adhiniyam, 1959 was construed as a saving clause preserving the class of tax and not merely its rate. The notification therefore survived, but its operation had to be read down so as to conform to the constitutional ceiling. The post-Mahapalika Act levy could continue only within the constitutional limit until Parliament made contrary provision.

Conclusion: The tax remained valid after the Constitution and after the Mahapalika Act, but only up to Rs. 250 per person per annum.

Final Conclusion: The levy was upheld in part and limited by the applicable constitutional ceilings for the different periods, with the post-Mahapalika regime sustained subject to the maximum permitted by Article 276(2).

Ratio Decidendi: A municipal tax notification survives where the taxing power continues under the later law, but its operation must be read down to conform to the applicable constitutional ceiling; a saving proviso preserves the class of tax, not an unconstitutional excess over that limit.

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