AI Drafter 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1960 (3) TMI 58
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....Whereas the General Officer Commanding in Chief Southern Army has appointed Major General J. N. Chaudary, O.B.E., to be the Military Governor for the Hyderabad State and whereas all authority for the administration of the State now vests in him, I hereby enjoin all the subjects of the State to carry out such orders as he may deem fit to issue from time to time. I appeal to all officers of the State administration and subjects of the State to render faithful and unflinching obedience to the Military Governor and conduct themselves in a manner calculated to bring about the speedy restoration of law and order in the State ". On August 7, 1949, His Exalted Highness the Nizam issued an explanatory Farman in the following terms: "With reference to my Farman dated 19-9-1948, in which I referred to the fact that all authority for the administration of the State now vests in the Military Governor, I hereby declare that the said authority includes and has always included authority to make Regulations ". On August 10, 1949, the Military Governor promulgated The Hyderabad (Abolition of Jagirs) Regulation of 1358 Fasli, which will hereinafter be referred to as the Abolition Regul....
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.... every jagir was prescribed. After the inauguration of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950, on which date the' territory of the State of Hyderabad became part of the Union of India, the President on April 25, 1950, certified the two Regulations under Art. 31(6) of the Constitution by a notification published in the gazette of the Union of India. The Constitution was amended on June 18, 1951 by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act of 1951 whereby, inter alia, Arts. 31(A) and 31(B) and Sch. IX were incorporated in the Constitution. The Abolition Regulation and the Commutation Regulation were included in Schedule IX and by virtue of Art. 31(B), neither the Regulations nor any of the provisions thereof were to be deemed to be void or ever to have become void on the ground that the Regulations were inconsistent with or -took away or abridged any of the rights conferred by any of the provisions of Part III of the Constitution. In the meantime, the appellant had, on January 29, 1951, filed a petition in the High Court of Hyderabad for a writ in the nature of mandamus directing the State of Hyderabad and the Jagir Administrator to hand over possession of the appellant....
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....d, viz., the speedy restoration of law and order in the State by His Exalted Highness the Nizam as expressed in the appeal was not restrictive of that authority. That His Exalted Highness the Nizam in and before the month of September, 1948, was an absolute ruler invested with all authority, executive, legislative and judicial is indisputable. He had supreme powers vested in him to modify, restrict take away or extinguish the rights of any of his subjects and the validity of his actions or orders was not liable to be questioned before any tribunal or authority. The Farman promulgated on September 19, 1948, by His Exalted Highness the Nizam delegated his sovereign authority to the Military Governor and to remove all doubts as to the effect of that delegation, an explanatory Farman dated August 7, 1949, was issued. It was declared in express terms by that Farman that the authority of the Military Governor -to; included and has always included the authority to make Regulations ". In the clearest terms, the author of the Farman proclaimed the content of the authority delegated by him to the Military Governor. The plea rather faintly urged by Mr. Varma that the Farman merely recit....
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.... unrestricted, so long as it enured, his action in issuing the Abolition Regulation could not be challenged on the plea that it was a colourable exercise of legislative authority. The doctrine of invalidity of legislative provisions enacted in colourable exercise of authority applies to legislatures whose powers are subject to constitutional restrictions. When such a legislative body seeks, under the guise or pretence of complying with the restrictions, in enacting a statute, to evade or elude them, it is but a fraud on the Constitution, and the statute is liable to be declared invalid on the ground that the enactment is in colourable exercise of authority, the statute being in truth beyond the competence of the body. But a statute enacted by a legislative authority whose powers are not fettered by any constitutional or other limitations, cannot be declared invalid as enacted in colourable exercise of its powers. The authority of the Chief Minister under the Farman dated December 1, 1949, in its amplitude, was as extensive as that of His Exalted Highness the Nizam and the Commutation Regulation was not liable to be challenged on the ground of want of legislative competence or co....