Doctrine of Pith and Substance

 Article. 246  of Constitution of India— The doctrine of pith and substance postulates, for its application, that the impugned law is substantially within the legislative competence of the particular legislature that made it, but only incidentally encroached upon the legislative field of another legislature. The doctrine saves this incidental encroachment if only the law is in pith and substance within the legislative field of the particular legislature which made it, State of Bombay v. Narottamdas Jethabhai, 1951 SCR 51: AIR 1951 SC 69.

Articles. 245 & 246 and Sch. VII Lists I, II & III — The doctrine of “pith and substance” means that if an enactment substantially falls within the powers expressly conferred by the Constitution upon the legislature which enacted it, it cannot be held to be invalid, merely because it incidentally encroaches on matters assigned to another legislature. In order to examine the true character of the enactment, the entire Act, its object, scope and effect, is required to be gone into, Union of India v. Shah Goverdhan L. Kabra Teachers’ College, (2002) 8 SCC 228.