Report No. 60
4.9. Change in section 5(1) not recommended as to date of commencement.-
Having regard to various important considerations, and after careful examination of all aspects of the matter, we have come to the conclusion that the present position as laid down in section 5(1) should not be disturbed. In fact, because of the present practice, no hardship is caused. There is no statutory obligation to publish Central Acts in the Official Gazette, except that gazette copies of Acts are prima facie evidence of the correctness of the texts thereof.1 But, in practice, Central Acts are always published in the Official Gazette without delay, and generally on the same day on which the assent of the President to these Acts is received. Publication in the gazette is the most authentic form of publication. As Macaulay2 the first Law Member to the Government of India, observed in one of his Minutes-
"And what does promulgation mean? It means, if I understand its sense, the publication of a law in an authentic form. The publication of a law in the gazette will henceforth be a publication in an authentic form and will therefore be a promulgation."
1. Sections 81 and 84 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
2. Macaulay, Minute No. 5 of the 14th June, 1835.
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