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TMI Blog1954 (2) TMI 12X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... JEA, B.K., BOSE, VIVIAN AND HASAN, GHULAM, JJ. For the Appellant: M.K. Nambiyar with U. Sethumadhava Rao, For the Respondent : M. Seshachalapathi. JUDGMENT DAS J.- This is an appeal arising out of a judgment delivered on the 27th April, 1951, by a Bench o15 the Madras High Court in C.M.P. No. 4697 of 1951 filed under article 226015 the Constitution for the issue of a writ of certiorari or other appropriate writ to call for the records and quash the order of the Government passed under section 4(1) of the Madras Act XLIII of 1949 declaring the undertaking of the appellant company to vest in the Government. The appellant company was formed and registered under the Indian Companies Act in 1924 with the object, inter alia, of generating and supplying electrical ,energy to the public in Rajahmundry. In 1949 the Madras Legislature passed the Madras Electricity Supply Undertakings (Acquisition) Act, 1949. The Act received the assent of the Governor-General on the 18th January, 1950, and was published in the Official Gazette on the 24th January, 1950. Upon the Constitution of India coming into force on the 26th January, 1950, the Act was submitted to the President for ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n of the legislative competency of the Madras Legislature to enact this piece of legislation. In the High Court the contest centered round the question whether the Act was a law with respect to electricity under entry 31 of the concurrent list or with respect to corporations under entry 33 in list I. The High Court held that the Act was, in pith and substance, a law with respect to electricity and was, therefore, within the legislative competency of the Provincial Legislature. In his arguments before us learned counsel contended that the act is in substance and effect one for the acquisition of an electrical undertaking and, as such, is ultra vires because- (a) the acquisition of an electrical undertaking was not a legislative item in any of the three lists in the seventh schedule to the Government of India Act, 1935, and (b) in so far as it relates to the acquisition of an electrical undertaking of a corporation it is a law with respect to corporations under entry 33 in list I. In our opinion this appeal can be disposed of on the first of the two grounds mentioned above. Turning to the Act it will be noticed that the long title of the Act is "an Act to make provision for t ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e staff of the licensee immediately before the vesting date. Section 17 requires all licensees to prepare and hand over to the Government a complete inventory of all the assets. Section 18 gives power of entry to the Government or any officer authorised by the Government upon any land or premises in the possession of the licensee. Section 19 prescribes penalties for various defaults therein specified. Section 20 makes certain officers of a company liable for the offence committed by the company. Section 21 gives protection against suit or prosecution for anything done in good faith under any rule or order made under the Act. Section 22 confers rule-making power on the Government. Section 23 provides that the provisions of certain Acts in so far as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act shall have no effect. Section 24 gives power to the Government to do anything which appears to them necessary for the purpose of removing any difficulty. From the above summary it will be noticed that the Act does not purport to make any provision for the granting of licenses or maintenance of works for generating or transmitting energy or for supplying electrical energy as one would ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r to the Federal Legislature or the Provincial Legislature, to make a law with respect to compulsory acquisition of a commercial or industrial undertaking but left it to the discretion of the Governor-General to empower either of the Legislatures to enact such a law. There is no suggestion that the Governor-General had, in exercise of his discretionary powers under section 104, authorised the Madras Legislature to enact the impugned Act and, therefore, the Act was, prima facie, beyond the legislative competency of the Madras Legislature. The learned Advocate-General of Madras urges that there was implicit in every entry in the legislative lists in the Seventh Schedule to the Government of India Act, 1935, an inherent power to make a law with respect to a matter ancillary or incidental to the subject-matter of each entry. His argument is that each entry in the list carried with it an inherent power to provide for the compulsory acquisition of any property, land or any commercial or industrial undertaking, while making a law under such entry. It is quite true that the powers of each Legislature to make laws with respect to the different subjects assigned to it by the, appropriate l ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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