Page:29357 2016 1 1501 44512 Judgement 11-May-2023.pdf/88

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PART L

in the Schedule. One of the amendments made in terms of the Schedule was to omit the phrase “Part A or Part B of the First Schedule”, and “Rajpramukh”, as occurring in the Constitution. It is necessary to note that the expressions “Part A”, “Part B” and “Rajpramukh” were not necessarily substituted by another expression by Parliament.

136. Article 239 as it was amended by the 1956 Constitution Amendment states that subject to any law enacted by Parliament every Union Territory shall be administered by the President acting through an Administrator appointed by them with such designation as they may specify. It is relevant to note that the term ‘administrator’, at the time of the amendment was not added to any provision of the Constitution other than Article 239. Even within Article 239, the provision did not use the term ‘administrator’ as a designation. Instead, Article 239 provides that:

239. Administration of Union Territories (1) Save as otherwise provided by Parliament by law, every Union territory shall be administered by the President acting, to such extent as he thinks fit, through an administrator to be appointed by him with such designation as he may specify.

(2) Notwithstanding anything contained in Part VI, the President may appoint the Governor of a State as the administrator of an adjoining Union territory, and where a Governor is so appointed, he shall exercise his functions as such administrator independently of his Council of Ministers.”

137. Furthermore, it is important to note that Articles 239A and 239AA were inserted much later after the 1956 Constitution Amendment. In 1962, Article 239A was inserted through the Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act 1962, which

gives discretion to Parliament to create by law, local legislatures or a Council of

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