The second circumstance which has necessitated the Bill is that it is proposed that this Constitution should come into operation sometime about the 26th January, 1950. The effect of these two circumstances is that the Privy Council will have no jurisdiction to entertain any appeal or petition after the 26th January 1950, assuming that that becomes the date of the commencement of the Constitution. But what is more important is this that the Privy Council will not even have jurisdiction to deal with and dispose of appeals and Petitions which may be pending before it on the 26th January 1950. Now making stock of the situation as it will be on the 26th January 1950 the position’s this. There are at present seventy civil appeals and ten criminal appeals ending before the Privy Council. The Calendar of cases which is prepared or the next sitting of the Privy Council has set down twenty appeals for hearing and disposal. It is also a fact that that is probably the only sitting which the Privy Council will hold for the purposes of disposing of the Indian appeals before the date on which the Constitution comes into operation.
