INDU BHUSAN DE Vs. STATE OF WEST BENGAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by certificate from the Calcutta High Court assails the affirming judgment of the Division Bench upholding the dismissal of a writ petition challenging the vires of the Calcutta City Civil Court Act (21 of 1953) and its later amendment on the ground of want of legislative competence of the State Legislature. The City Civil Court Act ('Act' for short), empowered the State Government to establish a Civil Court to be called the City Civil Court and under S. 5 thereof the local limits and the jurisdiction of the City Civil Court was to be the city of Calcutta. Sub-sec. (2) of S. 3 provided :

(2.) It is appropriate to refer to the relevant legislative entries in the three lists - Union, State and Concurrent - as they stood in 1953 when the Act was enacted. In the Union List Entries 77, 78 and 95 are relevant. They provide :

(3.) A Constitution Bench of this Court in State of Bombay v. Narothamdas Jethabhai, 1951 SCR 51 : (AIR 1951 SC 69) examined the validity of the Bombay City Civil Court Act of 1948. The provisions of that Act and the impugned Act are almost similar. The challenge to the vires of the Bombay Act had to be examined keeping the provisions of Government of India Act, 1935, in view inasmuch as that was a pre-Constitution legislation. Each of the learned Judges wrote a separate judgment but all of them were agreed that the Bombay Act was a law with respect to a matter enumerated in List II and was not ultra vires. Entry 53 of List I was to the following effect :