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TMI Blog1958 (11) TMI 20X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d that it was not competent for the Andhra Pradesh Legislature to amend the Madras Sales of Motor Spirit Taxation Act, 1939 (Act VI of 1939) and to extend it to the territory compendiously called "Telangana". The contention is elaborated thus. After the creation of the Andhra State, the Madras Sales of Motor Spirit Taxation Act, 1939, became extra-territorial and the Madras Legislature could not have extended its territorial limits. For that reason, it had become inoperative in that area which was once comprised in the Madras State. It is to obviate that difficulty that the Parliament, which enacted the Andhra State Act (XXX of 1953), in exercise of the constituent power vested in it by sections 2, 3 and 4 of the Constitution, inserted sections 53 and 54 in the said Act. Section 53 provided for the continuance of the laws in force immediately before the appointed day in the new State. Section 54 enables the appropriate Government to make adaptations and modifications of those laws to facilitate their application to the new State. That section had not vested any authority in the Andhra State Legislature to alter laws. One legislature cannot, in the absence of power expressly confe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nd section 3 of the Ordinance had no independent existence apart from section 2 of the Ordinance and therefore would stand or fall with that section. These propositions were accepted by the High Court with the result that the detenus were directed to be released. On appeal by the Provincial Government, the Federal Court reversed the judgment of the High Court. The decision of the appellate Court was based on the validity of section 3. The learned Judges disagreed with the High Court with regard to the incidence of section 3. They said that section 3 had not amended or repealed any provision of the Defence of India Act and that it was not so dependent upon or connected with section 2 as to be incapable of being enforced by itself. They did not express any final opinion on the other issue, as they felt it unnecessary to go into the other matters. In passing it was observed that an Ordinance could, for the period of its duration, suspend the operation of the whole or any portion of the pre-existing statutes. When a similar question arose in Emperor v. Benoari Lal(1945) A.I.R. 1945 P.C. 48; 72 I.A. 57., the Judicial Committee decided that the Governor-General, acting under sectio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ed by the learned counsel for the petitioners, as they deal with either distribution of legislative powers or the delegation of legislative functions, and no rule which can serve as a guide in this enquiry can be extracted from any of them. Nor do the principles cited in the textbooks throw any light on the questions to be answered by us. It is, therefore, unfruitful to undertake a detailed survey of those fields. The problem which presents itself here can be tackled with reference to the governing legal principles and material provisions of the Andhra State Act, the States Re-organisation Act and the impugned Act. By force of section 53 of the Andhra State Act which corresponds to section 119 of the States Re-organisation Act, all the laws which were in force in that part of the territory of Madras which was incorporated in the Andhra State, continue to be operative. The Madras Sales of Motor Spirit Taxation Act, 1939, (Act VI of 1939), being one such law, has the same sanctity and same force as laws made by the Andhra Legislature, the circumstance that it was originally enacted by the Madras Legislature not making any difference. Section 54 of the Andhra State Act which is analog ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Motor Spirit Taxation Act, 1939 (Act VI of 1939), as in force at the commencement of this Act, in the territories of the State of Andhra Pradesh which, immediately before the 1st November, 1956, were comprised in the State of Andhra, (hereinafter referred to as the Principal Act), as amended by sections 4 to 11, is hereby extended to and shall be in force in the transferred territories." It is thus plain that it was the enactment which became part of the laws of the Andhra State that was amended and extended to the transferred territories, which, as a result of the States Re-organisation Act, became merged in the State of Andhra Pradesh. The submission that the adaptation and extension of laws made by another legislative authority is obnoxious to the principle of Article 246(3) and detracts from the exclusive character of the legislation contemplated by that Article, is equally fallacious. The Constitution has not prescribed any form in which a law has to be made. The legislature may choose any pattern it likes to make laws. It need not indulge in the device of re-enacting a statute. It has only to see that any measure passed by it is within the general scope of the dominion assi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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