Government of India Act 1935

PART XIII TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS.

312 Operation of Part XIII.

The provisions of this Part of this Act shall apply with respect to the period elapsing between the commencement of Part III of this Act and the establishment of the Federation.

313 Executive Government.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act for the time being in force, such executive authority as is hereinafter mentioned shall be exercised on behalf of His Majesty by the Governor-General in Council, either directly or through officers subordinate to him, but nothing in this section shall prevent the Indian Legislature from conferring functions upon subordinate authorities, or be deemed to transfer to the Governor-General in Council any functions conferred by any existing Indian law on any court, judge or officer, or on any local or other authority.

(2) Subject to the provisions of this Act for the time being in force, the said executive authority extends—

(a) to the matters with respect to which the Indian Legislature has, under the said provisions, power to make laws;

(b) to the raising in British India on behalf of His Majesty of naval, military or air forces, and to the governance of His Majesty's forces borne on the Indian establishment;

(c) to the exercise of such rights, authority and jurisdiction as are exercisable by His Majesty by treaty, grant, usage, sufferance or otherwise in and in relation to the tribal areas :

Provided that—

(i) the said authority does not, save as expressly provided in the provisions of this Act for the time being in force, extend in any Province to matters with respect to which the Provincial Legislature has power to make laws;

(ii) the said authority does not extend to the enlistment or enrolment in any force raised in British India of any person unless he is either a subject of His Majesty, or a native of India or of territories adjacent thereto; and

(iii) commissions in any such forces shall be granted by His Majesty, save in so far as he may be pleased to delegate that power by virtue of the provisions of Part I of this Act or otherwise.

(3) References in the provisions of this Act for the time being in force to the Governor-General and the Federal Government shall, except as respects matters with respect to which the Governor-General is required by the said provisions to act in his discretion, be construed as references to the Governor-General in Council, and any reference to the 'Federation, except where the reference is to the establishment of the Federation, shall be construed as a reference to British India, the Governor-General in Council, or the Governor-General, as the circumstances and the context may require:

Provided that—

(a) any reference to the revenues of the Federation shall be construed as a reference to the revenues of the Governor-General in Council;

(b) the revenues of the Governor-General in Council shall, subject to the provisions of chapter I of Part VII of this Act with respect to the assignment of the whole or part of the net proceeds of certain taxes and duties to Provinces and to the provisions of this Act with respect to the Federal Railway Authority (so far as any such provisions are for the time being in force), include all revenues and public moneys raised or received either by the Governor-General in Council or by the Governor-General ;

(c) the expenses of the Governor-General in discharging his functions as respects matters with respect to which he is required by the provisions of this Act for the time being in force to act in his discretion shall be defrayed out of the revenues of the Governor-General in Council.

(4) Any requirement in this Act that the Governor-General shall exercise his individual judgment with respect to any matter shall not come into force until the establishment of the Federation, but, notwithstanding that Part II of this Act has not come into operation, the following provisions of this Act, that is to say—

(a) the provisions requiring the prior sanction of the Governor-General for certain legislative proposals;

(b) the provisions relating to broadcasting;

(c) the provisions relating to directions to, and principles to be observed by, the Federal Railway Authority; and

(d) the provisions relating to civil services to be recruited by the Secretary of State,

shall have effect in relation to defence, ecclesiastical affairs, external affairs and the tribal areas as they have effect in relation to matters or functions with respect to, or in the exercise of, which the Governor-General is by the provisions of this Act for the time being in force required to act in his discretion, and any reference in any of the provisions of this Act for the time being in force to the special responsibilities of the Governor-General shall be construed as a reference to the special responsibilities which he will have when Part II of this Act comes into operation.

(5) Nothing in this section shall be construed as conferring on the Governor-General in Council any functions connected with the exercise of the functions of the Crown in its relations with Indian States.

314 Control of the Secretary of State.

(1) The Governor-General in Council and the Governor-General, both as respects matters with respect to which he is required by or under this Act to act in his discretion and as respects other matters, shall be under the general control of, and comply with such particular directions, if any, as may from time to time be given by, the Secretary of State, but the validity of anything done by the Governor-General in Council or the Governor-General shall not be called in question on the ground that it was done otherwise than in accordance with the provisions of this subsection.

(2) The Secretary of State shall not give any direction to the Governor-General in Council with respect to any grant or appropriation of any part of the revenues of the Governor-General in Council except with the concurrence of his advisers.

(3) While this Part of this Act is in operation, the advisers of the Secretary of State shall not be more than twelve, nor less than eight, in number, and, notwithstanding anything in Part XI of this Act with respect to their term of office, on the establishment of the Federation such of the advisers as the Secretary of State may direct shall cease to hold office.

315 Sterling loans.

(1) While this Part of this Act is in operation, no sterling loans shall be contracted by the Governor-General in Council, but in lieu thereof, if provision is made in that behalf by an East India Loans Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Secretary of State may, within such limits as may be prescribed by the Act, contract such loans on behalf of the Governor-General in Council.

(2) The Secretary of State shall not exercise any such powers of borrowing as are mentioned in this section unless at a meeting of the Secretary of State and his advisers the borrowing has been approved by a majority of the persons present.

(3) There shall be inserted—

(a) in paragraph (d) of subsection (1) of section one of the Trustee Act, 1925, after the words " on the revenues of India "; and

(b) at the end of sub-paragraph (9) of paragraph (a) of section ten of the Trusts (Scotland) Act, 1921,

the words " or in any sterling loans raised by the " Secretary of State on behalf of the Governor-General of " India in Council under the provisions of Part XIII of " the Government of India Act, 1935."

(4) No deduction in respect of taxes imposed by or under any existing Indian law or any law of the Indian, the Federal, or a Provincial Legislature shall be made, either before or after the establishment of the Federation, from any payment of principal or interest in respect of any loan contracted under this section.

(5) Any legal proceedings in respect of any loan raised under this section may, either before or after the establishment of the Federation, be brought in the United Kingdom against the Secretary of State, but nothing in this section shall be construed as imposing any liability on the Exchequer of the United Kingdom.

316 Legislature.

The powers conferred by the provisions of this Act for the time being in force on the Federal Legislature shall be exercisable by the Indian Legislature, and accordingly references in those provisions to the Federal Legislature and Federal Laws shall be construed as references to the Indian Legislature and laws of the Indian Legislature, and references in those provisions to Federal taxes shall be construed as references to taxes imposed by laws of the Indian Legislature :

Provided that nothing in this section shall empower the Indian Legislature to impose limits on the power of the Governor-General in Council to borrow money.

317 Continuance of certain provisions of Government of India Act.

(1) The provisions of the Government of India Act set out, with amendments consequential on the provisions of this Act, in the Ninth Schedule to this Act (being certain of the provisions of that Act relating to the Governor-General, the Commander-in-Chief, the Governor-General's Executive Council and the Indian Legislature and provisions supplemental to those provisions) shall, subject to those amendments, continue to have effect notwithstanding the repeal of that Act by this Act :

Provided that nothing in the said provisions shall affect the provisions of the last but one preceding section.

(2) In the said provisions, the expression " this Act " means the said provisions.

(3) The substitution in the said provisions of references to the Secretary of State for references to the Secretary of State in Council shall not render invalid anything done thereunder by the Secretary of State in Council before the commencement of Part III of this Act.

318 Provisions as to Federal Court and certain other Federal authorities.

(1) Notwithstanding that the Federation has not yet been established, the Federal Court and the Federal Public Service Commission and the Federal Railway Authority shall come into existence and be known by those names, and shall perform in relation to British India the like functions as they are by or under this Act to perform in relation to the Federation when established.

(2) Nothing in this section affects any power of His Majesty in Council to fix a date later than the commencement of Part III of this Act for the coming into operation, either generally or for particular purposes, of any of the provisions of this Act relating to the Federal Court, the Federal Public Service Commission or the Federal Railway Authority.

319 Rights and liabilities of Governor-General in Council and Governor-General to continue after establishment of Federation.

(1) Any rights acquired by, or liabilities incurred by or on behalf of, the Governor-General in Council or the Governor-General between the commencement of Part III of this Act and the establishment of the Federation shall, after the establishment of the Federation, be rights and liabilities of the Federation, and any legal proceedings pending at the establishment of the Federation by or against the Governor-General in Council or the Governor-General shall, after the establishment of the Federation, be continued by or against the Federation.

(2) The provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall apply in relation to rights and liabilities of the Secretary of State in Council which have, by virtue of the provisions of this Act, become rights or liabilities of the Governor-General in Council as they apply in relation to the rights and liabilities therein mentioned.