Doctrine of Incidental and Ancillary Powers

Introduction

• The Doctrine of Incidental and Ancillary powers is covered under the Constitution of India, 1950 (COI).
• This doctrine provides that if a legislative body has power to make laws on any matter, then it would have power to make laws on any matter incidental or related to the main matter.

What is Doctrine of Incidental and Ancillary powers?

• Along with the doctrine of pith and substance this doctrine helps the Court in determining if the legislature has power to make laws on a particular subject or not.
• As per this doctrine, if an authority has power to make laws on a particular subject matter it will have power to make laws on the ancillary and incidental matters as well.
• However, if the matter is specifically mentioned in one of the lists this doctrine would not be applicable.
• For example, the power of the central government to impose income tax would include the ability to examine and seize property in order to prevent income tax evasion.

What are Landmark Cases Illustrating the Doctrine of Incidental and Ancillary powers?

• State of Rajasthan v. G. Chawla (1959):
  • It is equally well-settled that the power to legislate on a topic of legislation carries with it the power to legislate on an ancillary matter which can be said to be reasonably included in the power given.
• State of Bombay v. F.N. Balsara (1951):
  • The Supreme Court in this case held that if the Act substantially falls within the powers expressly conferred upon the Legislature it cannot be invalid merely because it incidentally encroaches on the matters which have been assigned to other legislature.
  • The Court here cited the cases of Gallagher v. Lynn (1938) and Russell v. The Queen (1882), wherein the Court held that if on view of the statute as a whole, the substance of the legislation is within the express powers, then it is not invalidated if incidentally it affects matters which are outside the authorised field.

Conclusion

Doctrine of ancillary and incidental powers comes into picture when the Court is in doubt as to whether the legislature has power to make law on a particular matter or not. Along with the doctrine of pith and substance it is used to determine the same.