46. In this Act the expressions “official” and “non-official,” where used in relation to any person, mean respectively a person who is or is not in the civil or military service of the Crown in India :Provided that rules under the Principal Act may provide for the holders of such offices as may be specified in the rules not being treated for the purposes of the Principal Act or this Act, or any of them, as officials.
(1) This Act may be cited as the Government of India Act, 1919, and the Principal Act, as amended by any Act for the time being in force, may be cited as the Government of India Act.
(2) This Act shall come into operation on such date or dates as the Governor-General in Council, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, may appoint, and different dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and for different parts of India.On the dates appointed for the coming into operation of the provisions of this Act as respects any executive or Legislative Council all the members of the Council then in office shall go out of office, but may, if otherwise qualified, be reappointed, re-nominated or re-elected, as the case may be, in accordance with the provisions of the Principal Act as amended by this Act.
(3) Any reference in any enactment, whether an Act of Parliament or made by any authority in British India, or in any rules, regulations, or orders made under any such enactment, or in any letters patent or other document, to any enactment repealed by the Principal Act, shall for all purposes be construed as references to the Principal Act as amended by this Act or to the corresponding provision thereof.
(4) Any reference in any enactment in force in India, whether an Act of Parliament or made by any authority in British India, or in any rules, regulations, or orders made under any such enactment or in any letters patent or other document, to any Indian Legislative authority shall for all purposes be construed as reference to the corresponding authority constituted by the Principal Act as amended by this Act.
(5) If any difficulty arises as to the first establishment of the Indian Legislature or any Legislative Council after the commencement of this Act or otherwise in first giving effect to the provisions of this Act, the Secretary of State in Council or the Governor-General in Council, as occasion may require, may by order do anything which appears to them necessary for the purpose of removing the difficulty.