Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960
No: 64 Dated: Dec, 28 1960
THE ACQUIRED TERRITORIES (MERGER) ACT, 1960
ACT No. 64 OF 1960
An Act to provide for the merger into the States of Assam, Punjab and West Bengal of certain territories acquired in pursuance of the agreements entered into between the Governments of India and Pakistan and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Eleventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:―
1. Short title.―This Act may be called the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960.
2. Definitions.―In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,―
(a) “acquired territories” mean so much of the territories comprised in the Indo-Pakistan agreements and referred to in the First Schedule as are demarcated for the purpose of being acquired by India in pursuance of the said agreements;
(b) “appointed day” means such date as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint for the merger of the acquired territories under section 3, after causing the territories to be so acquired demarcated for the purpose, and different dates may be appointed for the merger of such territories into different States;
(c) “assembly constituency”, “council constituency” and “parliamentary constituency” have the same meanings as in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950);
(d) “Indo-Pakistan agreements” mean the Agreements dated the 10th day of September, 1958, the 23rd day of October, 1959 and the 11th day of January, 1960 entered into between the Governments of India and Pakistan, the relevant extracts of which are set out in the Second Schedule;
(e) “law” includes any enactment, ordinance, regulation, order, bye-law, rule, scheme, notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or in any part of the acquired territory;
(f) “sitting member”, in relation to either House of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State, means a person who, immediately before the appointed day, is a member of that House;
(g) “State concerned”, in relation to the acquired territories referred to in Part I, Part II and Part III of the First Schedule, means, respectively, the State of Assam, the State of Punjab and the State of West Bengal; and “State Government concerned” shall be construed accordingly;
(h) “Union purposes” mean the purposes of Government relatable to any of the matters mentioned in List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.
3. Merger of acquired territories.―(1) As from the appointed day, the acquired territories referred to in Part I, Part II and Part III of the First Schedule shall, respectively be included in, and form part of the States of Assam, Punjab and West Bengal.
(2) As from the appointed day, the State Government concerned shall, by order in the Official Gazette, provide for the administration of the acquired territories included in that State by including them or any part of them in such district, sub-division, police station or other administrative unit as may be specified in the order.
4. Amendment of the First Schedule to the Constitution.―As from the appointed day, in the First Schedule to the Constitution,―
(a) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of Assam, after the words “the Assam Tribal Areas”, the words, figures and brackets “and the territories referred to in Part I of the First Schedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960” shall be inserted;
(b) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of Punjab, after the words and figures “the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (37 of 1956)”, the words, figures and brackets “and the territories referred to in Part II of the First Schedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960” shall be inserted;
(c) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of West Bengal, after the words, brackets and figures “the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act, 1956 (40 of 1956)”, the words, figures and brackets “and the territories referred to in Part III of the First Schedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960” shall be inserted.