The Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960

This Act may be called the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,― (a) "acquired territories" mean so much of the territories comprised in the Indo-Pakistanagreements and referred to in the First Schedule as are demarcated for the purpose of beingacquired by India in pursuance of the said agreements; (b) "appointed day" means such date1as the Central Government may, by notification in theOfficial Gazette, appoint for the merger of the acquired territories under section 3, after causingthe territories to be so acquired demarcated for the purpose, and different dates may be appointedfor the merger of such territories into different States; (c) "assembly constituency", "council constituency" and "parliamentary constituency" havethe same meanings as in the Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950); (d) "Indo-Pakistan agreements" mean the Agreements dated the 10th day of September, 1958,the 23rd day of October, 1959 and the 11th day of January, 1960 entered into between theGovernments of India and Pakistan, the relevant extracts of which are set out in the SecondSchedule; (e) "law" includes any enactment, ordinance, regulation, order, bye-law, rule, scheme,notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or in any part of the acquiredterritory; (f) "sitting member", in relation to either House of Parliament or of the Legislature of a State,means a person who, immediately before the appointed day, is a member of that House; (g) "State concerned", in relation to the acquired territories referred to in Part I, Part II andPart III of the First Schedule, means, respectively, the State of Assam, the State of Punjab and theState of West Bengal; and "State Government concerned" shall be construed accordingly; (h) "Union purposes" mean the purposes of Government relatable to any of the mattersmentioned in List I of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.

(1) As from the appointed day, the acquired territoriesreferred to in Part I, Part II and Part III of the First Schedule shall, respectively be included in, andform part of the States of Assam, Punjab and West Bengal. (2) As from the appointed day, the State Government concerned shall, by order in the OfficialGazette, provide for the administration of the acquired territories included in that State by includingthem or any part of them in such district, sub-division, police station or other administrative unit asmay be specified in the order.

As from the appointed day, in theFirst Schedule to the Constitution,― (a) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of Assam, after the words "theAssam Tribal Areas", the words, figures and brackets "and the territories referred to in Part I ofthe First Schedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960" shall be inserted; (b) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of Punjab, after the words andfigures "the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 (37 of 1956)", the words, figures and brackets "andthe territories referred to in Part II of the First Schedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act,1960" shall be inserted; (c) in the paragraph relating to the territories of the State of West Bengal, after the words,brackets and figures "the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act, 1956 (40 of1956)", the words, figures and brackets "and the territories referred to in Part III of the FirstSchedule to the Acquired Territories (Merger) Act, 1960" shall be inserted.

As from the appointed day, (a) any reference in the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly ConstituenciesOrder, 1956,― (i) to the State of Assam or Punjab or West Bengal, shall be construed as including thatpart of the acquired territory which is included in that State; (ii) to any district, sub-division, police station or other administrative unit, shall beconstrued as including that part of the acquired territory, if any, which is included in thatdistrict, sub-division, police station or other administrative unit, by order made undersub-section (2) of section 3; (b) any reference in the Delimitation of Council Constituencies (Punjab) Order, 1951― (i) to the State of Punjab, shall be construed as including that part of the acquired territorywhich is included in that State; (ii) to any district, shall be construed as including that part of the acquired territory, ifany, which is included in that district, by order made under sub-section (2) of section 3; (c) any reference in the Delimitation of Council Constituencies (West Bengal) Order, 1951― (i) to the State of West Bengal, shall be construed as including that part of the acquiredterritory which is included in that State; (ii) to any division or district, shall be construed as including the acquired territory, if any,which is included in that division or district, by order made under sub-section (2) of section 3.