Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Act

An Act to alter the name of the Union territory of Pondicherry

Preamble

An Act to alter the name of the Union territory of Pondicherry.

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:—

1. Short title and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Pondicherry (Alteration of Name) Act, 2006.

(2) It shall come into force on such date 1

as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

2. Definitions

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

      (a) “appointed day” means the date appointed under sub-section (2) of section 1 for the coming into force of this Act;

      (b) “appropriate Government” means the Central Government, and as respects a law relating to a matter enumerated in the State List or the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution in so far as any such matter is applicable in relation to the Union territory of Puducherry, also the administrator of the Union territory of Puducherry;

      (c) “law” includes any enactment, Ordinance, regulation, order, bye-law, rule, scheme, notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or any part of the Union territory of Pondicherry.

3. Alteration of name of the Union territory of Pondicherry

As from the appointed day, the Union territory of Pondicherry shall be known as the Union territory of Puducherry.

4. Amendment of Part VIII of the Constitution

In Part VIII of the Constitution, for the word “Pondicherry”, wherever it occurs, the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted.

5. Amendment of First Schedule to the Constitution

In the First Schedule to the Constitution, under the heading “II. THE UNION TERRITORIES”, in entry 6, under the column “Name”, for the word “Pondicherry”, the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted.

6. Amendment of Fourth Schedule to the Constitution

In the Fourth Schedule to the Constitution, under the heading “TABLE”, in entry 30, in the second column, for the word “Pondicherry” the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted.

7. Amendment of section 2 of Act 20 of 1963

In the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, in section 2, in sub-section (1), in clause (h), for the word “Pondicherry”, the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted.

8. Power to adapt laws

(1) For the purpose of giving effect to the alteration of the name of the Union territory of Pondicherry by section 3, the appropriate Government may, before the expiration of one year from the appointed day, by order, make such adaptations and modifications of any law made before the appointed day, whether by way of repeal or amendment, as may be necessary or expedient, and thereupon every such law shall have effect subject to the adaptations and modifications so made.

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to prevent Parliament or Legislative Assembly of the Union territory of Puducherry or other competent authority from repealing or amending any law adapted or modified by the appropriate Government under the said sub-section.

9. Power to construe laws

Notwithstanding that no provision or insufficient provision has been made under section 8 for the adaptation of a law made before the appointed day, any court, tribunal or authority, required or empowered to enforce such law, may construe the law in such manner, without 1. 1st October, 2006, vide notification No. S.O. 1627(E), dated, 28th September, 2006, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, sec. 3(ii). affecting the substance, as may be necessary or proper in regard to the matter before the court, tribunal or authority.

Where immediately before the appointed day any legal proceedings are pending to which the administrator of the Union territory of Pondicherry is a party, or the Union of India represented by the said administrator is a party, then, for the purposes of those proceedings, any reference to the administrator of the Union territory of Pondicherry shall be construed as a reference to the administrator of the Union territory of Puducherry.

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