Ujagar Prints Etc vs Union Of India & Ors. Etc on 4 November, 1988
Such exercise in validation must of course also be
legislatively competent and legally sustainable. Those issues
are considered separately. On the first question, we hold that
the law must be taken as having always been as is now brought
about by the Finance Act, 2000. The statutory foundation for
the decision in Laghu Udhyog Bharati has been replaced and
the decision has thereby ceased to be relevant for the purposes
of construing the present provisions (vide Ujagar Prints vs.
Union of India) . Therefore subject to our decision on the
question of the legislative competence of Parliament to enact
the law, and assuming the amendments in 2003 to be legal for
the time being, we reject the submission of the writ petitioners
that by the amendments brought about by Sections 116 and
117 of the Finance Act 2000, the decision in Laghu Udhyog
Bharati has been legislatively overruled.