Definitions
In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following
expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—
(1) “agricultural income” means agricultural income as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to Indian income-tax;
(2) “an Anglo-Indian” means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only;
(3) “article” means an article of this Constitution;
(4) “borrow” includes the raising of money by the grant of annuities, and “loan” shall be construed accordingly;
(5) “clause” means a clause of the article in which the expression occurs;
(6) “corporation tax” means any tax on income, so far as that tax is payable by companies and is a tax in the case of which the following conditions are fulfilled:—
(a) that it is not chargeable in respect of agricultural income;
(b) that no deduction in respect of the tax paid by companies is, by any enactments which may apply to the tax, authorised to be made from dividends payable by the companies to individuals;
(c) that no provision exists for taking the tax so paid into account in computing for the purposes
of Indian income-tax the total income of individuals receiving such dividends, or in computing the
Indian income-tax payable by, or refundable to, such individuals;
(7) “corresponding Province”, “corresponding Indian State” or “corresponding State” means in cases of doubt such Province, Indian State or State as may be determined by the President to be the corresponding Province, the corresponding Indian State or the corresponding State, as the case may be, for the particular purpose in question;
(8) “debt” includes any liability in respect of any obligation to repay capital sums by way of
annuities and any liability under any guarantee, and “debt charges” shall be construed accordingly;
(9) “estate duty” means a duty to be assessed on or by reference to the principal value, ascertained in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by or under laws made by Parliament or the Legislature of a State relating to the duty, of all property passing upon death or deemed, under the provisions of the said laws, so to pass;
(10) “existing law” means any law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation passed or made before the commencement of this Constitution by any Legislature, authority or person having power to make such a law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation;
(11) “Federal Court” means the Federal Court constituted under the Government of India Act, 1935;
(12) “goods” includes all materials, commodities, and articles;
(13) “guarantee” includes any obligation undertaken before the commencement of this Constitution
to make payments in the event of the profits of an undertaking falling short of a specified amount;
(14) “High Court” means any Court which is deemed for the purposes of this Constitution to be a High Court for any State and includes—
(a) any Court in the territory of India constituted or reconstituted under this Constitution as a High Court, and
(b) any other Court in the territory of India which may be declared by Parliament by law to be a High Court for all or any of the purposes of this Constitution;
(15) “Indian State” means any territory which the Government of the Dominion of India recognised as such a State;
(16) “Part” means a Part of this Constitution;
(17) “pension” means a pension, whether contributory or not, of any kind whatsoever payable to or in respect of any person, and includes retired pay so payable; a gratuity so payable and any sum or sums so payable by way of the return, with or without interest thereon or any other addition thereto, of subscriptions to a provident fund;
(18) “Proclamation of Emergency” means a Proclamation issued under clause (1) of article 352;
(19) “public notification” means a notification in the Gazette of India, or, as the case may be, the Official Gazette of a State;
(20) “railway” does not include—
(a) a tramway wholly within a municipal area, or
(b) any other line of communication wholly situate in one State and declared by Parliament by law not to be a railway;
(23) “Schedule” means a Schedule to this Constitution;
(24) “Scheduled Castes” means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of this Constitution;
(25) “Scheduled Tribes” means such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution;
(26) “securities” includes stock;
(27) “sub-clause” means a sub-clause of the clause in which the expression occurs;
(28) “taxation” includes the imposition of any tax or impost, whether general or local or special, and “tax” shall be construed accordingly;
(29) “tax on income” includes a tax in the nature of an excess profits tax;
(29A) “tax on the sale or purchase of goods” includes—
(a) a tax on the transfer, otherwise than in pursuance of a contract, of property in any goods for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration;
(b) a tax on the transfer of property in goods (whether as goods or in some other form) involved in the execution of a works contract;
(c) a tax on the delivery of goods on hire-purchase or any system of payment by installments;
(d) a tax on the transfer of the right to use any goods for any purpose (whether or not for a specified period) for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration;
(e) a tax on the supply of goods by any unincorporated association or body of persons to a member thereof for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration;
(f) a tax on the supply, by way of or as part of any service or in any other manner whatsoever, of goods, being food or any other article for human consumption or any drink (whether or not intoxicating), where such supply or service, is for cash, deferred payment or other valuable consideration, and such transfer, delivery or supply of any goods shall be deemed to be a sale of those goods by the person making the transfer, delivery or supply and a purchase of those goods by the person to whom such
transfer, delivery or supply is made;
(30) “Union territory” means any Union territory specified in the First Schedule and includes any other territory comprised within the territory of India but not specified in that Schedule.
Version 1
Article 303, Draft Constitution of India 1948
(1) In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say-
(a) “Agricultural income” means agricultural income as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to Indian income-tax;
(b) “An Anglo-Indian” means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only;
(c) “An Indian Christian” means a person who professes any form of the Christian religion and is not a European or an Anglo-Indian;
(d) “Borrow” includes the raising of money by the grant of annuities, and “loan” shall be construed accordingly;
(e) “Chief Justice” includes in relation to a High Court a Chief Judge;
(f) “Corporation tax” means any tax on income, so far as that tax is payable by companies and is a tax in the case of which the following conditions are fulfilled: –
(i) That it is not chargeable in respect of agricultural income;
(ii) That no deduction in respect of the tax paid by companies is, by any enactments which may apply to the tax, authorised to be made from dividends payable by the companies to individuals
(iii) That no provision exists for taking the tax so paid into account in computing for the purposes of Indian income-tax the total income of individuals receiving such dividends, or in computing the Indian income-tax payable by, or refundable to, such individuals;
(g) “Corresponding Province” or “corresponding State” means in cases of doubt such Province or State as may be determined by the President to be the corresponding Province or, as the case may be, the corresponding State for the particular purpose in question;
(h) “Debt” includes any liability in respect of any obligation to repay capital sums by way of annuities and any liability under any guarantee, and “debt charges” shall be construed accordingly;
(i) “Existing law” means any law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation passed or made before the commencement of this Constitution by any legislature, authority or person having power to make such a law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation but does not include any Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom or any Order in Council made under any such Act;
(j) “Federal Court” means the Federal Court constituted under the Government of India Act, 1935;
(k) “Goods” includes all materials, commodities, and articles; (1) “Guarantee” includes any obligation undertaken before the commencement of this Constitution to make payments in the event of the profits of an undertaking falling short of a specified amount;
(m) “Pension” means a pension, whether contributory or not, of any kind whatsoever payable to or in respect of any person, and includes retired pay so payable, a gratuity so payable and any sum or sums so payable by way of the return, with or without interest thereon or any other addition thereto, of subscriptions to a provident fund;
(n) “Public notification” means a notification in the Gazette of India, or, as the case may be, the official Gazette of a State;
(o) “Securities” includes stock;
(p) “Taxation” includes the imposition of any tax or impost, whether general or local or special, and “tax” shall be construed accordingly;
(q) “Tax on income” includes a tax in the nature of an excess profits tax
(r) “Railway” includes a tramway not wholly within a municipal area;
(s) “Union railway” does not include an Indian State railway but, save as aforesaid, includes any railway not being a minor railway;
(t) “Indian State railway” means a railway owned by a State for the time being specified in Part III of the First Schedule and either operated by such State, or operated on behalf of such State otherwise than in accordance with a contract made with that State by or on behalf of the Government of India, or any company operating a Union railway;
(u) “Minor railway” means a railway which is wholly situate in one State and does not form a continuous line of communication with a Union railway, whether of the same gauge or not;
(v) “Schedule” means a Schedule to this Constitution;
(w) “Scheduled Castes” means in relation to any State for the time being specified in Part I of the First Schedule such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes as are specified in the Government of India (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1936, to be scheduled castes for the purposes of the Fifth and Sixth Schedules to the Government of India Act. 1935, in relation to the corresponding Province;
(x) “Scheduled tribes” means the tribes or communities specified in Parts I to IX of the Eighth Schedule in relation to the States for the time being specified in Part I of the First Schedule to which those Parts respectively relate.
Version 2
Article 366, Constitution of India 1950
In this Constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say—
(1) “agricultural income” means agricultural income as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to Indian income-tax;
(2) “an Anglo-Indian” means a person whose father or any of whose other male progenitors in the male line is or was of European descent but who is domiciled within the territory of India and is or was born within such territory of parents habitually resident therein and not established there for temporary purposes only;
(3) “article” means an article of this Constitution;
(4) “borrow” includes the raising of money by the grant of annuities, and “loan” shall be construed accordingly;
(5) “clause” means a clause of the article in which the expression occurs;
(6) “corporation tax” means any tax on income, so far as that tax is payable by companies and is a tax in the case of which the following conditions are fulfilled:
(a) that it is not chargeable in respect of agricultural income;
(b) that no deduction in respect of the tax paid by companies is, by any enactments which may apply to the tax, authorised to be made from dividends payable by the companies to individuals;
(c) that no provision exists for taking the tax so paid into account in computing for the purposes of Indian income-tax the total income of individuals receiving such dividends, or in computing the Indian income-tax payable by, or refundable to, such individuals;
(7) “corresponding Province”, “corresponding Indian State” or “corresponding State means in cases of doubt such Province, Indian State or State as may be determined by the President to be the corresponding Province, the corresponding Indian State or the corresponding State, as the case may be, for the particular purpose in question;
(8) “debt” includes any liability in respect of any obligation to repay capital sums by way of annuities and any liability under any guarantee, and “debt charges” shall be construed accordingly;
(9) “estate duty” means a duty to be assessed on or by reference to the principal value, ascertained in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by or under laws made by Parliament or the Legislature of a State relating to the duty, of all property provisions of the said laws, so to pass;
(10) “existing law” means any law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation passed or made before the commencement of this Constitution by any Legislature, authority or person having power to make such a law, Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule or regulation;
(11) “Federal Court” means the Federal Court constituted under the Government of India Act, 1935;
(12) “goods” includes all materials, commodities, and articles;
(13) “guarantee” includes any obligation undertaken before the commencement of this Constitution to make payments in the event of the profits of an undertaking falling short of a specified amount;
(14) “High Court” means any court which is deemed for the purposes of this Constitution to be a High Court for any State and includes—
(a) any Court in the territory of India constituted or reconstituted under this Constitution as a High Court, and
(b) any other Court in the territory of India which may be declared by Parliament by law to be a High Court for all or any of the purposes of this Constitution;
(15) “Indian State” means any territory which the Government of the Dominion of India recognised as such a State;
(16) “Part” means a Part of this Constitution;
(17) “pension” means a pension, whether contributory or not, of any kind whatsoever payable to or in respect of any person, and includes retired pay so payable, a gratuity so payable and any sum or sums so payable by way of the return, with or without interest thereon or any other addition thereto, of subscriptions to a provident fund;
(18) “Proclamation of Emergency” means a Proclamation issued under clause (1) of article 352;
(19) “public notification” means a notification in the Gazette of India, or, as the case may be, the Official Gazette of a State;
(20) “railway” does not include—
(a) a tramway wholly within a municipal area, or
(b) any other line of communication wholly situate in one State and declared by Parliament by law not to be a railway;
(21) “Rajpramukh” means—
(a) in relation to the State of Hyderabad, the person who for the time being is recognised by the President as the Nizam of Hyderabad;
(b) in relation to the State of Jammu and Kashmir or the State of Mysore, the person who for the time being is recognised by the President as the Maharaja of that State; and
(c) in relation to any other State specified in Part B of the First Schedule, the person who for the time being is recognised by the President as the Rajpramukh of that State, and includes in relation to any of the said States any person for the time being recognised by the President as competent to exercise the powers of the Rajpramukh in relation to that State;
(22) “Ruler” in relation to an Indian State means the Prince, Chief or other person by whom any such covenant or agreement as is referred to in clause (1) of article 291 was entered into and who for the time being is recognised by the President as the Ruler of the State, and includes any person who for the time being is recognised by the President as the successor of such Ruler;
(23) “Schedule” means a Schedule to this Constitution;
(24) “Scheduled Castes” means such castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within such castes, races or tribes as are deemed under article 341 to be Scheduled Castes for the purposes of this Constitution;
(25) “Scheduled Tribes” means such tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within such tribes or tribal communities as are deemed under article 342 to be Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of this Constitution;
(26) “securities” includes stock;
(27) “sub-clause” means a sub-clause of the clause in which the expression occurs;
(28) “taxation” includes the imposition of any tax or impost, whether general or local or special, and “tax” shall be construed accordingly;
(29) “tax on income” includes a tax in the nature of an excess profits tax;
(30) “Uparajpramukh” in relation to any State specified in Part B of the First Schedule means the person who for the time being is recognised by the President as the Uparajpramukh of that State.
Summary
Draft Article 303(1) (Article 366 of the Constitution of India, 1950) was discussed in the Constituent Assembly on 16 September, 17 September and 14 October 1949. Draft Article 303(1) was effectively a glossary to the Draft Constitution. It defined important terms like ‘Scheduled Caste’, ‘Scheduled Tribe’, ‘Anglo Indian’, ‘Agricultural Income’ and ‘Existing Law’.
Members of the Drafting Committee introduced several amendments which were adopted by the Assembly without significant discussion.
A Drafting Committee Member’s amendment to the definition of ‘Ruler’ triggered a minor discussion within the Assembly on who should be considered as the Ruler of a State. This question was important because the Constitution contained provisions related to the privileges (like privy purse) that only Rulers were entitled to.
The Drafting Committee Member’s amendment allowed the President to recognize a Ruler and a successor to the Ruler. A Member suggested that a successor would automatically become the ruler and hence, did not have to be specifically recognized by the President. The Drafting Committee Member responded that it was necessary to specifically identify a successor to ensure that privileges were passed on from a Ruler to an appropriate successor.
The Draft Article as amended in the Assembly was adopted into the Constitution on 17 September 1949.