Retrospective saving clause preserves pending proceedings under a repealed rent law and keeps the earlier Act applicable.

A temporary statute does not ordinarily continue after repeal merely because of a general saving clause, unless the repealing legislation shows a contrary intention. Here, the substituted Section 40 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956 was retrospective and expressly saved pending proceedings and remedies arising from rights and liabilities under the repealed 1950 Act. The Court construed that saving language broadly to include suits, appeals, revisions, rent-fixation matters and execution proceedings, so the repeal did not extinguish those pending matters. The provisions of the repealed Act therefore remained applicable to the saved proceedings.

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Issues: Whether proceedings pending on the date of repeal of the West Bengal Premises Rent Control (Temporary Provisions) Act, 1950 could continue and the provisions of that Act could still be applied in pending appeals, revisions, and rent-fixation matters after the repeal, especially in light of the substituted Section 40 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956.

Analysis: The Court held that a temporary statute, once repealed, does not survive beyond its original span merely by virtue of the general saving clause, unless the repealing legislation clearly evinces a contrary intention. On the original unamended Section 40, the view was that the general saving provision could preserve accrued rights and pending proceedings only up to the date on which the temporary Act would otherwise have expired, and not beyond that date. The amending Act, however, substituted a new Section 40 with retrospective effect and expressly provided that pending proceedings could be continued and proceedings or remedies in respect of rights and liabilities under the repealed Act could be instituted as if the Act of 1950 had been in force. The Court construed the expression and the accompanying explanation as covering pending proceedings concerning rights created by the 1950 Act, including suits, appeals, revisions, and execution proceedings, so that the repeal did not destroy those pending matters.

Conclusion: The pending proceedings were saved by the substituted Section 40 of the West Bengal Premises Tenancy Act, 1956, and the provisions of the repealed 1950 Act remained applicable to those pending matters. The answer to the reference was therefore in the affirmative, in favour of the appellants and petitioners.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a repealing statute is accompanied by a retrospective and express saving clause, pending proceedings and remedies concerning rights and liabilities under the repealed temporary Act continue according to the scope of that saving clause, and the court may apply the repealed Act in those pending matters.

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