TMI Blog1967 (10) TMI 3X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nment to make necessary adaptations and modifications for the purpose of facilitating the application of any such law in relation to the administration of Pondicherry and bringing the provisions of any such law into accord with the provisions of the Constitution. Section 7 provided that all taxes, duties, cesses and fees which immediately before August 19, 1962, were being lawfully levied would continue to be levied in Pondicherry and to be applied for the same purposes, until other provision was made by a competent legislature or other competent authority. After the passing of this Act, the petitioners continued to be subject to the existing French laws relating to income-tax. On March 30, 1963, the President in the exercise of the powers conferred on him by article 240 of the Constitution Promulgated the impugned Regulation No. 3 of 1963. The Regulation extended certain Indian Acts relating to taxation to the Union territories mentioned therein. Section 3(2) of the Regulation extended the Income-tax Act, 1961, subject to the modifications mentioned in Part II of the Schedule, to Pondicherry as from April 1, 1963. Section 4(1) provided that any law in force in Pondicherry correspo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... (b) the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands. (2) Any regulation so made may repeal or amend any Act made by Parliament or any existing law which is for the time being applicable to the Union territory and, when promulgated by the President, shall have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament which applies to that territory." The amended article 241 dealt with High Courts for Union territories. Article 242 relating to Coorg was repealed. Article 240(1) and the First Schedule were amended from time to time. The Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act passed on December 28, 1962, amended the First Schedule and article 240 and added article 239A. Article 239A and the amended article 240 are in these terms : "239A. (1) Parliament may by law create for any of the Union territories of Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, and Pondicherry-- (a) a body, whether elected or partly nominated and partly elected, to function as a Legislature for the Union territory, or (b) a Council of Ministers, or both with such constitution, powers and functions, in each case, as may be specified in the law. (2) Any such law as is referred to in clause (1) s ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t, promotes those objects ; Riel v. Queen, Chemard and Co. v. Joachim Arissol. The words "peace, order and good government" and similar expressions are words of very wide import giving wide discretion to the authority empowered to pass laws for such purposes ; Attorney-General for Saskatchewan v. Canadian Pacific Ry. Co., King Emperor v. Benoari Lal Sarma. In Jogendra Narayan Deb v. Debendra Narayan Roy Sir George Rankin said that the words have reference to the scope and not to the merits of the legislation. In Girindra Nath Banerjee v. Birendra Nath Pal, he said that "these words are used because they are words of the widest significance and it is not open to a court of law to consider with regard to any particular piece of legislation whether in fact it is meritorious in the sense that it will conduce to peace or to good government. It is sufficient that they are words which are intended to give, subject to the restrictions of the Act, a legislating power to the body which it invests with that authority." Article 240 of the Constitution confers on the President a general power of making regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the specified Union territories. I ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ate on those matters ; moreover, for certain territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands no legislature can be created under article 239A, and for such territories there can be no authority competent to legislate with respect to matters enumerated in the State List. Such a construction is repugnant to the subject and context of article 246. It follows that in view of article 246(4), Parliament has plenary powers to make laws for Union territories on all matters. Parliament can by law extend the Income-tax Act, 1961, to a Union territory with such modifications as it thinks fit. The President in the exercise of his powers under article 240 can make regulations which have the same force and effect as an Act of Parliament which applies to that territory. The President can therefore by regulation made under article 240 extend the Income-tax Act, 1961, to that territory with such modifications as he thinks fit. The President can thus make regulations under article 240 with respect to a Union territory occupying the same field on which Parliament can also make laws. We are not impressed by the argument that such overlapping of powers would lead to a clash between the President ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n Act of Parliament applicable to that territory. This general power of the President to make regulations extends to all matters on which Parliament can legislate. It may be recalled that article 239A and the proviso to article 240(1) were inserted by the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act. Under article 240 as it stood after the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act and before the enactment of the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, it could not be contended that the general power of the President to make regulations under article 240(1) was limited to matters enumerated in the State List and the Concurrent List. The position was not changed by the insertion of article 239A and the proviso to article 240(1) by the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act. Moreover, article 239A does not authorise Parliament to create legislatures for the Union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli. It is clear, therefore, that the power of the President to make regulations with respect to those territories is not limited by the proviso to article 240(1). We are satisfied that the proviso to article 240(1) on its t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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