The legal position in regard to the administration of these provinces is that laws are made by notification issued in the name of the Chief Commissioner under Section 4 of the Extra-provincial Jurisdiction Act which was passed by the Central Assembly in 1947. The administration is carried on under the provisions of this Act either by the Central Government or the Provincial Governments. It is clear that the process of administrative integration which these agreements were designed to bring about has thus been partially achieved. The laws of the Central Legislature and the appropriate Provincial legislatures do not apply as such to the States which have been merged or which are being administered by these Chief Commissioners. The Finances of these States do not form part of the finances of the Dominion or the province concerned, but have to be kept separately for the time being. So we naturally considered how best we could bring about complete administrative integration, which was the aim and purpose of the merger agreements which have been signed by the rulers and accepted by the Government of India. It was all first thought that this can be done by an order under Section 290 of the Government of India Act by increasing the areas and altering the boundaries of the provinces, but Section 290 makes no mention of the acceding State and it is therefore extremely doubtful whether the Government General is competent by an order under that Section to direct the integration of the territories of acceding States to the provinces. It is for a variety of reasons that these merger agreements were entered into and the integration of these States should not longer be delayed. It is therefore considered necessary to make in the Government of India Act of 1935 a provision enabling the governance of an acceding State or States, whose rulers have entrusted jurisdiction and power to the Dominion Government, either as part of a Governor’s province or a a Chief Commissioner’s province. Such a provision is necessary for political, constitutional and administrative reasons. politically, it will hasten the process of integration and will provide a means for all these areas being represented in the legislatures of the provinces in which they have been merged. At present, although the States have been merged, there is no arrangement by which they could be represented in any manner in the provinces concerned. Constitutionally, the provision will enable the Dominion and the Provincial legislatures to have a legal basis for enacting legislation for these areas, and administrative convenience of complete merger is undoubtedly very great. There is also a provision in the Bill for adjustment of territories between a province and a neighbouring acceding State. If such adjustment is considered expedient or necessary for reasons of administration, it cannot be done at present. I might illustrate this by an example. There are about 12 1/2 villages which form the Chief Commissioners province known as Panth Piploda, of which the House may know. These villages are not at one place and are situated at different places and are in such a position that their administration is practically neglected. The area cannot be governed properly and to have such a small unit of villages situated at different places is, constitutionally speaking, a problem which requires immediate solution. Now, these States, on account of their geographical position and other reasons, can only be properly merged or administered along with Madhya Bharat. they are all situated in the midst of this area.
