Chapter III - Property, Contacts, Rights, Liabilities, Obligations and Suits
Article
294 Succession to property, assets, rights, liabilities and
obligations in certain cases
As from the commencement of
this Constitution -
(a) all property and assets which
immediately before such
commencement were vested in His Majesty
for the purposes of the Government of the Dominion of India and all
property and assets which immediately before such commencement were
vested in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of each
Governor's Province shall vest respectively in the Union and the
corresponding State, and
(b) all rights, liabilities and
obligations of the Government of the Dominion of India and of the
Government of each Governor's Province, whether arising out of any
contract or otherwise, shall be the rights, liabilities and
obligations respectively of the Government of India and the
Government of each corresponding State, subject to any adjustment
made or to be made by reason of the creation before the commencement
of this Constitution of the Dominion of Pakistan or of the Provinces
of West Bengal, East Bengal, West Punjab and East Punjab.
Article
295 Succession to property, assets, rights, liabilities and
obligations in other cases
(1) As from the
commencement of this Constitution -
(a) all property and assets
which immediately before such commencement were vested in any Indian
State corresponding to a State specified in Part B of the First
Schedule shall vest in the Union, if the purposes for which such
property and assets were held immediately before such commencement
will thereafter be purposes of the Union relating to any of the
matters enumerated in the Union List, and
(b) all rights,
liabilities and obligations of the Government of any Indian State
corresponding to a State specified in Part B of the First Schedule,
whether arising out of any contract or otherwise, shall be the
rights, liabilities and obligations of the Government of India, if
the purposes for which such rights were acquired or liabilities or
obligations were incurred before such commencement will thereafter be
purposes of the Government of India relating to any of the matters
enumerated in the Union List,
subject to any agreement entered
into in that behalf by the Government of India with the Government of
that State.
(2) Subject as aforesaid, the Government of each
State specified in Part B of the First Schedule shall, as from the
commencement of this Constitution, be the successor of the Government
of the corresponding Indian State as regards all property and assets
and all rights, liabilities and obligations, whether arising out of
any contract or otherwise, other than those referred to in clause
(1).
Article
296 Property accruing by escheat or lapse or as Bona vacantia
Subject
as hereinafter provided, any property in the territory of India
which, if this Constitution had not come into operation, would have
accrued to His Majesty or, as the case may be, to the Ruler of an
Indian State by escheat or lapse, or as bona Vacantia for want of a
rightful owner, shall, if it is property situate in a State, vest in
such State, and shall, in any other case, vest in the Union:
Provided
that any property which at the date when it would have so accrued to
His Majesty or to the Ruler of an indian State was in the possession
or under the control of the Government of India or the Government of
a State shall, according as the purposes for which it was then used
or held were purposes of the Union or of a State, vest in the Union
or in that State.
Explanation: In this article, the expressions
"Rulers" and "Indian State" have the same
meanings as in article 363.
Article
297 Things of value within territorial waters or continental shelf
and resources of the exclusive economic zone to vest in the
Union
(1) All lands, minerals and other things of
value underlying the ocean within the territorial waters, or the
continental shelf, or the exclusive economic zone, of India shall
vest in the Union
and be held for the purposes of the Union.
(2)
All other resources of the exclusive economic zone of India shall
also vest in the Union and be held for the purposes of the Union.
(3)
The limits of the territorial waters, the continental shelf, the
exclusive economic zone, and other maritime zones, of India shall be
such as may be specified, from time to time, by or under any law made
by Parliament.
Article
298 Power to carry on trade, etc.
The executive power of the
Union and of each State shall extend to the carrying on of any trade
or business and to the acquisition, holding and disposal of property
and the making of contracts for any purpose:
Provided that -
(a)
the said executive power of the Union shall, in so far as such trade
or business or such purpose is not one with respect to which
Parliament may make laws, be subject in each State to legislation by
the State; and
(b) the said executive power of each State shall,
in so far as such trade or business or such purpose is not one with
respect to which the State Legislature may make laws, be subject to
legislation by Parliament.
Article
299 Contracts
(1) All contracts made in the exercise
of the executive power of the Union or of a State shall be expressed
to be made by the President, or by the Governor of the State, as the
case may be, and all such contracts and all assurances of property
made in the exercise of that power shall be executed on behalf of the
President or the Governor by such persons and in such manner as he
may direct or authorise.
(2) Neither the President nor the
Governor shall be personally liable in respect of any contract or
assurance made or executed for the purposes of this Constitution, or
for the purposes of any enactment relating to the Government of India
heretofore in force, nor shall any person making or executing any
such contract or assurance on behalf of any of them be personally
liable in respect thereof.
Article
300 Suits and proceedings
(1) The Government of India
may sue or be sued by the name of the Union of India and the
Government of a State may sue or be sued by the name of the State and
may, subject to any provisions which may be made by Act of Parliament
or of the Legislature of such State enacted by virtue of powers
conferred by this Constitution, sue or be sued in relation to their
respective affairs in the like cases as the Dominion of India and the
corresponding Provinces or the corresponding Indian States might have
sued or been sued if this Constitution had not been enacted.
(2)
If at the commencement of this Constitution -
(a) any legal
proceedings are pending to which the Dominion of India is a party,
the Union of India shall be deemed to be substituted for the Dominion
in those proceedings; and
(b) any legal proceedings are pending
to which a Province or an Indian State is a party, the corresponding
State shall be deemed to be substituted for the Province or the
Indian State in those proceedings.
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