Report No. 147

Chapter 2

Territorial Coverage

2.1. Before 1963, the Specific Relief Act as amended from time to time, was not applicable to the State of Jammu & Kashmir as well as to the territories known as 'Scheduled districts'. The removal of the latter of these restrictions was suggested in the Ninth Report. This was accepted and the 1963 Act was made applicable to the whole of India except the State of Jammu & Kashmir. In the opinion of the Commission, there is no reason why this exclusion should now continue.

Several Central enactments including the Income Tax Act and Wealth Tax Act (which fall under List 1 in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution) have been extended to the State. It is time that enactments such as the Contract Act, the Specific Relief Act and the Partnership Act are also extended to the State of Jammu & Kashmir to take the place of local laws, if any, even though they deal with topics covered by List III of the Seventh Schedule.

In our view, All-India uniformity is necessary, proper and desirable in respect of statutes like the above which are based on general principles universally recognised the world over. We would, therefore, recommend that the words "except the State of Jammu & Kashmir" in section 1(2) of the Act be omitted. It is, however, necessary that before this is done, an appropriate Presidential Order is issued under Article 370 of the Constitution to enable such laws, falling under List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution, being extended to the State.