Reciprocity Act, 1943
No: 9 Dated: Mar, 31 1943
THE RECIPROCITY ACT, 1943
ACT NO. 9 OF 1943
An Act to make provisions on a basis of reciprocity in regard to entry into, travel, residence, the acquisition, holding or disposal of property, the enjoyment of educational facilities, the holding of public office, or the carrying on of any occupation, trade, business or profession in India by, and the franchise in India of, persons domiciled in British Possessions.
Preamble.—WHEREAS it is expedient to make provisions on a basis of reciprocity in regard to entry into, travel, residence, the acquisition, holding or disposal of property, the enjoyment of educational facilities, the holding of public office, or the carrying on of any occupation, trade, business or profession in India by, and the franchise in India of, persons domiciled in British Possessions:
It is hereby enacted as follows : —
1. Short title, extent and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Reciprocity Act, 1943.
(2) it extends to the whole of India
[(3) It shall come into force on the 1st day of September, 1943.]
2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context—
(a) “British Possession” means any part of His Majesty's dominions and includes a protectorate or other territory administered by a British Possession as a mandatory on behalf of the League of Nations; and where parts of those dominions are under both a central and a local legislature, the expression shall mean either each part under a local legislature or all parts under the central legislature;]
(b) “entry” includes landing at any port in [India] during the stay in [India] of a ship or aircraft on its way to a destination outside [India] :
[3. Power of Central Government to impose reciprocal disabilities on persons domiciled in British Possessions.—Where by the law or practice of any British Possession persons of Indian origin are subject in that British Possession to disabilities in respect of entry into, or travel, residence, the acquisition, holding or disposal of property, the enjoyment of educational facilities, the holding of public office, the carrying on of any occupation, trade, business or profession, or the exercise of the franchise in, that British Possession, to which in respect of the like matters in [India] persons domiciled in that British British Possession are not subject in [India], the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, direct that the same disabilities or disabilities as similar thereto as may be shall, notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for the time being in force, be imposed in [India] on persons not being of Indian origin who- are domiciled in that British Possession.]
4. Burden of proof on person claiming exemption.—If any person alleged to be domiciled in any British Possession and to be subject to the provisions of this Act pleads that he is not so domiciled, or that the provisions of this Act do not apply to him, the onus of proving the truth of such a plea shall be on him.