Electron capture (EC) decay of ¹⁴⁶Gd (t1/2 = 48 d) to the low lying states of ¹⁴⁶Eu has been studied using high-resolution γ -ray spectroscopy. The ¹⁴⁶Gd activity was produced by (α, 2n) reaction at E_α = 32 MeV using a 93.8% enriched ¹⁴⁴Sm target. The level structure has been considerably modified from the measurement of γ –ray singles, γγ coincidences and decay half lives. Lifetime measurement has been performed for the 3⁻ (114.06 keV) and 2⁻ (229.4 keV) levels of ¹⁴⁶Eu using the mirror symmetric centroid difference (MSCD) method with LaBr₃ (Ce) detectors. The lifetimes for these two states have been found to be 5.38 ± 2.36 ps and 8.38 ± 2.19 ps respectively. Shell model calculation has been performed using OXBASH code in order to interpret the results.