Now, I come to Clause 6 of the Bill. The House knows that as a result of merger agreements which have been signed by rulers, full jurisdiction in regard to administration of twenty five States in Orissa, fifteen States in Central provinces, three States in Madras, thirty five full-powered States and one hundred and forty semi-jurisdictional States in Bombay, and three States in East Punjab has been handed over to the Government of India who have delegated their powers to the Provincial Governments concerned under the Extra-Provincial Jurisdiction Act which was passed by the Central legislature. In addition to this, certain States have been taken over by the Central Government and entrusted to officers of the Central Government who have been appointed as Chief Commissioners and these are known as Chief Commissioners’ provinces. These are, firstly, the East Punjab Hill States. They are about fifteen to twenty in number,–very small States–which have all been lumped together; and in view of their special condition we have taken them over and formed a Chief Commissioner’s province. Other States taken over in this manner are: Cutch, Bilaspur and Mayurbhanj which subsequently been handed over to Orissa. These have been formed as Chief Commissioners’ provinces. In the case of Cutch it has been done on account of its special position, namely, that it has a big, long border line with Pakistan and is an undeveloped area neglected for a very long time, with hardly any railway, no modern conveyance, no roads etc., and if you want to see a thousand-year old mediaeval State, Cutch is the only one in India. This State, however, has a first-class major port to be developed and the Government of India propose to spend a large amount of money on it. Then a railway from Cutch–metre gauge–is to be laid connecting it to Deesa. There is also a proposal to have another railway–board gauge–right up to Viramgam. In these circumstances and because of the long border between the two Dominions, it was considered necessary to take over the State’s administration and form a separate Chief commissioner’s province.
