Pondicherry (Administration) Act, 1962
No: 49 Dated: Dec, 05 1962
THE PONDICHERRY (ADMINISTRATION) ACT, 1962
ACT NO. 49 OF 1962
An Act to provide for the administration of Pondicherry and for matters connected therewith.
BE it enacted by Parliament in the Thirteenth Year of the Republic of India as follows:—
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Pondicherry (Administration) Act, 1962.
(2) It extends to the whole of Pondicherry.
(3) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 16th day of August, 1962.
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Administrator” means the Administrator of Pondicherry appointed by the President under article 239 of the Constitution;
(b) “appointed day” means the 16th day of August, 1962, being the date of entry into force of the Treaty of Cession;
(c) “former French Establishments” mean the territories which immediately before the appointed day were comprised in the French Establishments in India known as Pondicherry, Karikal, Mahe and Yanam;
(d) “High Court” means the High Court at Madras;
(e) “law” means any Act, Ordinance, Regulation, rule, order, bye-law, decree or other provision (by whatever name called) having the force of law;
(f) “Pondicherry” means the Union territory comprising the territories of the former French Establishments;
(g) “Treaty of Cession” means the treaty concluded between France and India on the 28th day of May, 1956, establishing the cession of the French Establishments by France to India in full sovereignty.
3. Officers and functionaries in relation to Pondicherry.—Without prejudice to the powers of the Central Government to appoint from time to time such officers and authorities as may be necessary for the administration of Pondicherry, all courts, tribunals, authorities and officers, whether in India or in the former French Establishments, who immediately before the appointed day, were exercising lawful functions in connection with the administration of those Establishments or any part thereof, including the Council of Government and the Representative Assembly, shall, unless otherwise directed at any time by the Central Government or the Administrator in relation to any such court, tribunal, authority or officer, or until other provision is made by law, continue to exercise in connection with the administration of Pondicherry their respective powers and jurisdiction and perform their respective duties and functions in the same manner and to the same extent as before the appointed day with such altered designation, if any, as that Government may determine.
4. Continuance of existing laws and their-adaptation.—(1) All laws in force immediately before the appointed day in the former French Establishments or any part thereof shall continue to be in force in Pondicherry until amended or repealed by a competent Legislature or other competent authority: Provided that references in any such law to the President or Government of the French Republic shall be construed as references to the Central Government, references to the Governor of the French Establishments in India, to the Commissioner of the Republic for the French Establishments in India, to the Chief Commissioner for the French Establishments, to the Chief Commissioner of the State of Pondicherry or to the Chief Commissioner, Pondicherry, shall be construed as references to the Administrator of Pondicherry and references to the State of Pondicherry shall be construed as references to Pondicherry.
(2) For the purpose of facilitating the application of any such law in relation to the administration of Pondicherry and for the purpose of bringing the provisions of any such law into accord with the provisions of the Constitution, the Central Government may, within three years from the appointed day, by order, make such adaptations and modifications, whether by way of repeal or amendment, as may be necessary or expedient and thereupon every such law shall have effect subject to the adaptations and modifications so made.
5. Property and assets.—For the avoidance of doubt, it is hereby declared that all property and assets within Pondicherry which, immediately before the appointed day, vested in the Government of the French Republic shall, save as otherwise expressly provided in the Treaty of Cession, vest in the Union.
6. Rights and obligations.—Subject to the provisions of the Treaty of Cession, all rights, liabilities and obligations of the Government of the French Republic in relation to or arising out of the administration of the former French Establishments shall, as from the appointed day, be the rights, liabilities and obligations of the Central Government.
7. Continuance of existing taxes.—All taxes, duties, cesses and fees which, immediately before the appointed day, were being lawfully levied in the former French Establishments or any part thereof shall continue to be levied in Pondicherry and to be applied to the same purposes, until other provision is made by a competent Legislature or other competent authority.
8. Power to extend enactments to Pondicherry.—The Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, extend with such restrictions and modifications as it thinks fit, to Pondicherry and enactment which is in force in a State at the date of the notification.
9. Extension of the jurisdiction of Madras High Court to Pondicherry.—As from the 6th day of November, 1962, the jurisdiction of the High Court shall extend to Pondicherry.