Case: Union of India (UOI) and Ors Vs. Valluri Basavaiah Chowdhary and Ors

of construction of Article 252(1). The question of adoption of a law made by the Parliament in respect of any of the matters in State List arises under the second part of Article 252(1) and is dependent upon the desirability expressed by the legislatures of two or more States empowering the Parliament to make such a law under the first part thereof. We are inclined to think that some meaning must be given to the words any Act so passed. The power of adoption, is, therefore, related to a law made under Article 252(1) and cannot be exercised in respect of laws made by the Parliament under Article 250(1) while a Proclamation of Emergency is in force. Furthermore, such a law, in terms of Article 250(2), ceases to have effect on the expiration of a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate. 48. The learned Attorney-General, however, rightly contends, in the alternative, that the Parliament being invested with the power by resolutions passed under the first part of Article 252(1) by as many as eleven States, to legislate on the subject i.e to make a law for the imposition of a ceiling on immovable property, it had the competence to so structure the Act that it was capable of being adopted by other States under the second part of Article 252(1). A fortiori, the specification of the State of Rajasthan by which the Act may be adopted, as well as the categorisation of the urban agglomerations therein to which it may apply, had to be there. 49. It is, however, strenuously urged on behalf of the petitioner that a law made by the Parliament under Article 252(1) cannot be so designated as to extend to the States which had not sponsored a resolution. Emphasis is laid upon the words in such States, and it is said that they mean in those States i.e the sponsoring States. In support of the contention, our attention was particularly drawn to the word accordingly and it is urged that the law passed by the Parliament under Article 252(1) must be restricted in its operation to those States i.e to those States in which the legislature passed a resolution. We are afraid the contention cannot be accepted. 50. In our considered judgment, the Parliament having been invested with powers to legislate on a State subject, by resolutions passed by legislatures of two or more States under Article 252(1), has plenary powers to make suitable legislation. It follows, as a necessary corollary, that the Act passed by the Parliament under Article 252(1) can be so structured as to be capable of being effectively adopted by the other States. Article 252(1) undoubtedly enables the Parliament to make a uniform law. The Act so passed would automatically apply to the States the legislature of which have passed a resolution in terms of Article 252(1), and at the same time it must be capable of being adopted by other States which have not sponsored a resolution i.e the non-sponsoring States. The second part of Article 252(1) will be meaningful only if it were so interpreted; otherwise, it would be rendered wholly redundant. To illustrate, if the part of the Schedule relating to the State of Rajasthan is treated as non est, the Schedule which forms part of the Act cannot be amended except under Article 252(2) i.e in the like manner. We fail to appreciate how two or more States can now pass a resolution for extention of the Act to the State of Rajasthan. 51. In a law relating to the imposition of ceiling on vacant land in urban agglomerations throughout the territory of India, it was competent for the Parliament under Entry 18, List II of Seventh Schedule not only to have the States specified in the Schedule to the Act where the law will extend, but also include the categorisation of urban agglomerations in respect of the whole of the territory of India. The Act would automatically apply from the date of its application to those States which had passed the resolution in terms of the first part of Article 252(1), and would extend to the adopting States from the date of the resolutions passed by the legislatures of such States. The Parliament had, therefore, in fact and in law, competence to legislate on the subject of the imposition of ceiling on urban immovable property, and the Schedule to the Act cannot, therefore, be struck down in relation to the State of Rajasthan. 52. It is conceded by learned counsel for the petitioner that if the Act had been enacted without the Schedule, with an appropriate definition of an urban agglomeration in Section 2(n), in general terms, making the law applicable to cities and towns having, for example, a population of one lakh and above, five lakhs and above, etc., it would have been within the legislative competence of the Parliament. If that be so, then it is inexplicable why simply because some of the areas in some of the States have been specified, although their State legislatures had not sponsored any resolution, the Schedule, insofar as those States are concerned should be regarded as non est. If it is competent for the Parliament to make a general law under Article 252(1) to facilitate its adoption by other States, it must logically follow that the Parliament could also pass the Act in its present form. 53. We are of the opinion that the Act with the Schedule annexed became applicable in those States where the legislatures passed resolutions expressing the desirability for the Parliament to make a law for the imposition of ceiling on urban immovable property, and it lay dormant insofar as the other States were concerned. It became applicable to those other States from the date that their Houses of Legislatures adopted it. In that view, we must hold that the impugned Act is not beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament insofar as the State of Rajasthan is concerned.

Court's decision (1 = petition accepted / positive for appellant, 0 = rejected / negative): 1

Reasoning from the judgment:
1[ds]10. We are afraid, the construction placed by the High Court on Article 252(1) cannot be sustained.It appears in Part XI headed Relations between the Union and the States and occurs in Chapter I relating to Legislative Relations i.e dealing with the distribution of legislative powers between the Union and the States. It would appear that our Constitution though broadly federal in structure, is modelled on the British Parliamentary System, with unitary features. Thus, even apart from emergencies, the Parliament may assume legislative power (though temporarily) over any subject under Article 249, by a two-third vote that such legislation is necessary in the national interest. While the Proclamation of Emergency under Article 352 is in operation the Parliament is also competent under Article 250 to legislate with respect to any such matter in the State list. Article 251 makes it clear that the legislative power of the State legislatures to make any law which they have power under the Constitution to make, is restricted by the provisions of articles 249 and 250; but, if any law made by the legislature of a State is repugnant to any provision of a law enacted by the Parliament, the law made by Parliament shall prevail and the law made by the State legislature to the extent of repugnancy shall not be valid so long as the law enacted by Parliament is effective and operative.12. Reverting back to Article 252, it will be noticed that this article corresponds to Section 103 of the Government of India Act, 1935. It empowers the Parliament to legislate for two or more States on any of the matters with respect to which it has no power to make laws except as provided in Articles 249 and 250.13. The effect of the passing of a resolution under clause (1) of Article 252 is that Parliament, which has no power to legislate with respect to the matter which is the subject of the resolution, becomes entitled to legislate with respect to it. On the other hand, the State legislature ceases to have a power to make a law relating to that matter. While Article 263 provides for the creation of an Inter-State Council for effecting administrative co-ordination between the States in matters of common interest, Article 252 provides the legislative means to attain that object. After the enactment of a law by the Parliament under this article, it is open to any of the other States to adopt the Act for such State by merely passing a resolution to that effect in its legislature, but the operation of the Act in such State cannot be from a date earlier than the date of the resolution passed in the legislature adopting the Act. The question as to whether or not there is surrender by the State legislature of its power to legislate, and if so, to what extent, must depend on the language of the resolution passed under Article 252(1): R.M.D.C (Mysore) Private, Ltd. v. State Of Mysore AIR 1962 SC 594 . Clause (2) specifically lays down that after Parliament makes an Act in pursuance of the resolution, such Act cannot be amended or repealed by the State legislature even though the matter to which the Act of Parliament relates was included in List II of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.The contentions of the learned Attorney-General must, in our opinion, be accepted.15. In the State Of Bihar v. Maharajadhiraja Sir Kameshwar Singh Of Darbhanga. AIR 1952 SC 252  in repelling the contention that the words law and legislature were deliberately used in Article 31(3) as a special safeguard, which, in order to ensure that no hasty or unjust expropriatory legislation is passed by a State legislature, requires for such legislation the assent of both the Governor and the President, Patanjali Sastri, C.J, observed:It is true that the legislature of a State includes the Governor and that a bill passed by such legislature cannot become a law until it receives the Governors assent.... The term legislature is not always used in the Constitution as including the Governor, though Article 168 makes him a component part of the State legislature. In Article 173, for instance, the word is clearly used in the sense of the Houses of Legislature and excludes the Governor. There are other provisions also where the word is used in contexts which exclude the Governor. Similarly the word law is sometimes loosely used in referring to a bill. Article 31(4), for instance, speaks of a bill being reserved for the Presidents assent after it has been passed by the legislature of a State and of the law so assented to. If the expression passed by the legislature were taken to mean passed by the Houses of the Legislature and assented to by the Governor... then, it would cease to be a bill and could no longer be reserved as such. Nor is the phrase law so assented to strictly accurate, as the previous portion of the clause makes it clear that what is reserved for the Presidents assent and what he assents to is a bill and not a law.This decision really clinches the whole issue.16. Article 252(1) is in two parts. The first part merely recites about the desirability of the Parliament legislating on a subject in respect of which it has no power to make laws except as provided in Articles 249 and 250. This power to legislate is vested in the Parliament only if two or more State legislatures think it desirable to have a law enacted by Parliament on such matter in List II i.e with respect to which the Parliament has no power to make laws for the States, and all the Houses of the Legislatures of those States express such desire by passing a resolution to that effect. The legislatures of those States should not only think it desirable and expedient, but actually pass resolution that the Parliament should regulate the matter in those States, in order to invest the Parliament with the power to legislate on such subject. The passing of such resolution by the State legislatures of two or more States, is a condition precedent for investing the Parliament with the power to make a law on that topic or matter, and then only it shall be lawful for the Parliament to make a law for regulating that matter accordingly. The law so made or enacted by the Parliament under Article 252(1) will apply only to those States whose legislatures have passed resolutions under that provision and also to those States which have afterwards adopted the same by resolution passed by the legislatures of such States in that behalf. It would appear that the first part of the article is only introductory, the second is the operative part. The words to that effect in the first part, therefore, refer to the desirability for effecting administrative control by the Parliament over two or more States in respect of matters of common interest. Thus, the word legislature in the first part of Article 252(1), in the context in which it appears, cannot mean the three component parts of the State legislature contemplated by Article 168, but only the House or Houses of Legislature, as the case may be, i.e excluding the Governor.17. There is a clear distinction between an Act of legislature, a legislative act and a resolution of the House. The High Court has completely overlooked this distinction.18. The Governor is a constitutional head of the State Executive, and has, therefore, to act on the advice of a Council of Ministers under Article 163. The Governor is, however, made a component part of the State legislature under Article 164, just as the President is a part of Parliament. The Governor has a right of addressing and sending messages to under Articles 175 and 176, and for summoning, proroguing and dissolving under Article 174, the State legislature, just as the President has in relation to Parliament. He also has a similar power of causing to be laid before the State legislature the annual financial statement under Article 202(1), and of making demands for grants and recommending Money Bills under Article 207(1). In all these matters the Governor as the constitutional head of the State is bound by the advice of the Council of Ministers.19. The Governor is, however, made a component part of the legislature of a State under Article 168, because every Bill passed by the State legislature has to be reserved for the assent under Article 200. Under that article, the Governor can adopt one of the three courses, namely (i) he may give his assent to it, in which case the Bill becomes a law; or (ii) he may, except in the case of a Money Bill, withhold his assent therefrom, in which case the Bill falls through unless the procedure indicated in the first proviso is followed i.e return the Bill to the Assembly for reconsideration with a message, or (iii) he may (subject to Ministerial advice) reserve the Bill for the consideration of the President, in which case the President will adopt the procedure laid down in Article 201. The first proviso to Article 200 deals with a situation where the Governor is bound to give his assent when the Bill is reconsidered and passed by the Assembly. The second proviso to that article makes the reservation for consideration of the President obligatory where the Bill would, if it becomes law, derogate from the powers of the High Court. Thus, it is clear that a Bill passed by a State Assembly may become law if the Governor gives his assent to it, or if, having been reserved by the Governor for the consideration of the President, it is assented to by the President. The Governor is, therefore, one of the three components of a State legislature. The only other legislative function of the Governor is that of promulgating Ordinances under Article 213(1) when both the Houses of the State legislature or the Legislative Assembly, where the legislature is unicameral, are not in session. The Ordinance-making power of the Governor is similar to that of the President, and it is co-extensive with the legislative powers of the State legislature.20. From an enumeration of the powers, functions and duties of the Governor, it is quite clear that he cannot, in the very nature of things, participate in the proceedings of the House or Houses of Legislature, while the State legislature passes a resolution in terms of Article 252(1), not being a member of the legislature under Article 158.21. The function assigned to the Governor under Article 176(1) of addressing the House or Houses of Legislature, at the commencement of the first session of each year, is strictly not a legislative function but the object of this address is to acquaint the members of the Houses with the policies and programmes of the Government. It is really a policy statement prepared by the Council of Ministers which the Governor has to read out. Then again, the right of the Legislature under Article 175(2), with respect to a Bill then pending in the legislature or otherwise, normally arises when the Governor withholds his assent to a Bill under Article 200, or when the President, for whose consideration a Bill is reserved for assent, returns the Bill withholding his assent. As already stated, a Bill is something quite different from a resolution of the House and, therefore, there is no question of the Governor sending any message under Article 175(2) with regard to a resolution pending before the House or Houses of the Legislature.22. Similar considerations must also arise with regard to ratification of a Bill passed by the Parliament in exercise of its constituent power of amending the Constitution under Article 368(1).In Jatin Chakravorty v. Sri Justice H.K Bose AIR 1964 Cal 500  D.N Sinha, J., as he then was, rightly negatived challenge to the constitutional validity of the Constitution (Fifteenth Amendment) Act, 1963, which amended Article 217 of the Constitution raising the age of retirement of a Judge of the High Court from 60 to 62 years on the ground that no assent of the Governor in the State of West Bengal was taken, observing:A legislature discharges a variety of functions. The House has to be summoned or prorogued, bills have to be introduced, voted upon and passed, debates take place on important political questions, ministers are interrogated, and so on. The Governor, though a limb of the legislature does not take part in every such action. While the Governor summons the House and may prorogue or dissolve it (Article 174) or address the legislature (Article 175), he does not sit in the House or vote upon any issue. When a Bill has been passed by the House or Houses, Article 200 requires that it shall be presented to the Governor for assent. The assent of the Governor is necessary, only because the Constitution expressly requires it. Whenever the assent of the Governor is necessary or the assent of the President is necessary, it is specifically provided for in the Constitution (see Articles 31-A, 200, 201 and 304). The necessity of such assent cannot be implied, where not specifically provided for.(emphasis supplied)23. Reverting to the constitutional requirement under proviso to Article 368(2) of a ratification by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the States he observed:So far as the State legislatures are concerned, it requires that a resolution should be passed ratifying the amendment. Such a resolution requires voting, and the Governor never votes upon any issue.(emphasis supplied)24. The interpretation placed by D.N Sinha, J. upon the proviso to Article 368(2) in Jatin Chakravorty case is in consonance with the constitutional system. Any other construction would result in an alarming situation as constitutional amendments by the Parliament under Article 368(1), could be held up by the Governor of a State. What is true of a ratification by the State legislatures under proviso to Article 368(2), is equally true of a resolution of the House or Houses of the Legislature under Article 252(1). The Governor, in our view, nowhere comes in the picture at all in these matters.26. The respondents contention in the present appeals is the same as that prevailed in the High Court. The point has already been dealt with by us at length. The contention cannot be accepted because it runs counter to this Courts decision in Kameshwar Singh case. The absence of the words unless the context otherwise requires in Article 168, cannot control the meaning of the term legislature in Article 252(1). It was fairly conceded at the Bar that even without these words, a word or a phrase may have a different meaning, if the context so requires, than the meaning attached to it in the definition clause. The term legislature, in the context in which it appears, can only mean the House or Houses of Legislature, as the case may be.There is a fallacy in the argument. The second part of Section 103 of the Government of India Act is replaced by Article 252(2) of the Constitution which takes away the power of repeal from the State legislature and entrusts it to the Parliament. When his attention was drawn to the fact that clause (2) of Article 252 of the Constitution differs from the provisions of Section 103 of the Government of India Act, 1935, the learned counsel did not pursue the point any further. Under Article 252(2) an amending or repealing Bill must go through the same procedure as prescribed for the original Bill i.e by the process laid down in clause (1) of Article 252. The surrender or abdication of the legislative power of the State legislature places the matter entirely in the hands of the Parliament.28. We are afraid, the contention cannot be accepted. It is not disputed that the subject-matter of Entry 18, List II of the Seventh Schedule i.e land covers land and buildings and would, therefore, necessarily include vacant land. The expression urban immovable property may mean land and buildings, or buildings or land. It would take in lands of every description, i.e agricultural land, urban land or any other kind and it necessarily includes vacant land.31. It is but axiomatic that once the legislatures of two or more States, by a resolution in terms of Article 252(1), abdicate or surrender the area i.e their power of legislation on a State subject, the Parliament is competent to make a law relating to the subject. It would indeed be contrary to the terms of Article 252(1) to read the resolution passed by the State legislature subject to any restriction. The resolution, contemplated under Article 252(1) is not hedged in with conditions. In making such a law, the Parliament was not bound to exhaust the whole field of legislation. It could make a law, like the present Act, with respect to ceiling on vacant land in an urban agglomeration, as a first step towards the eventual imposition of ceiling on immovable property of every other description.32. There is no need to dilate on the question any further in this judgment, as it can be better dealt with separately. It is sufficient for purposes of these appeals to say that when Parliament was invested with the power to legislate on the subject i.e ceiling on immovable property, it was competent for the Parliament to enact the impugned Act i.e a law relating to ceiling on urban land.33. In our opinion, therefore, the High Court was clearly in error in holding that the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976, was not applicable to the State of Andhra Pradesh. In reaching that conclusion, it proceeded on the wrong assumption that legislature for purposes of Article 252(1) means the House or Houses of Legislature, as the case may be, and the Governor. In consequence hereof, it fell into an error in holding that the State legislature of Andhra Pradesh could not, in law, be regarded to have authorised the Parliament to enact the impugned Act, in relation to that State, due to the non-participation of the Governor.35. The High Court has clearly erred in holding that the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976 cannot apply to the urban agglomeration of Warrangal. In reaching that conclusion, it observed that under Section 244(1)(c)(iii) the master plan must designate the land subject to compulsory acquisition under the powers in that behalf conferred by the Act or any other law for the time being in force; otherwise, the master plan prepared for the town cannot be treated to be a master plan as prepared in accordance with law. The view taken by the High Court is wholly unwarranted and proceeds on a misconception of the scheme of the Act.37. It is quite clear that under the scheme of the Act the imposition of a ceiling on vacant land in urban agglomerations does not depend on the existence of a master plan. The definition of urban land, as contained in Section 2(o) of the Act is in two parts, namely, (1) in a case where there is a master plan prepared under the law for the time being in force, any land within the limits of an urban agglomeration and referred to as such in the master plan, is treated to be urban land, and (2) in a case where there is no master plan, or the master plan does not refer to any land as urban land, any land within the limits of an urban agglomeration and situated in any area included within the local limits of a municipality or other local authorities is regarded as such. The existence of a master plan within the meaning of Section 2(h) is, therefore, not a sine qua non for the applicability of the Act to an urban agglomeration. The only difference is that where there is a master plan, the Act extends to all lands situate within the local limits of a municipality or other local authority, and also covers the peripheral area thereof; but where there is no such master plan, its applicability is confined to the municipal limits or the local area as the case may be.39. The word shall in clause (c) of sub-section (1) of Section 244 of the Andhra Pradesh (Telengana Area) District Municipalities Act, 1956 in its context and setting, is directory. A master plan prepared by a municipality may or may not contain a proposal for compulsory acquisition of land, or any descriptive matter or map to illustrate a scheme for development. Mere absence of such proposal for compulsory acquisition or a map or descriptive matter would not be tantamount to there being no master plan. A master plan may include proposals for development of areas required to be covered by Section 244, sub-section (1), clause (c), contiguous and adjacent to the municipal limits of a city or town, but may not designate the land to be compulsorily acquired, the absence of which would not invalidate the scheme. It is because the municipality has always the power under Section 250 of the Act to acquire the land required for implementation of such scheme.40. It appears that the revised master plan prepared for Warangal does, as it should, provide for various development schemes. For aught we know, it also designates the lands subject to compulsory acquisition. Even if it were not so, the master plan prepared under Section 244, sub-section (1), clause (c) did not cease to be a master plan prepared in accordance with the law for the time being in force, within the meaning of Section 2(h) of the Act, in relation to the town of Warangal. The Act is, therefore, clearly applicable to the urban agglomeration of Warangal and it extends not only to all the lands included within the local limits of the Warangal Municipality but also includes the peripheral areas specified i.e one kilometre around such limits.43. When the Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on January 28, 1976, it cannot be denied that the State of Rajasthan was not one of the eleven States which had passed a resolution under the first part of Article 252(1),45. The learned Attorney-General is no doubt right in saying that if a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, under Article 250(1) the power of the Parliament extends to the making of laws for the whole or any part of the territory of India with respect to any of the matters enumerated in the State List, but the Act so passed will die out with the revocation of the Proclamation of Emergency, by reason of Article 250(2) on the expiration of a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate, except as respect things done or omitted to be done before the expiration of the said period. That conclusion is inevitable from the words shall cease to have effect appearing in Article 250(2).46. Now, the further difficulty in accepting the learned Attorney Generals contention is that the Parliament never professed to act under Article 250(1).It is amply clear from the third part of the preamble, which reads:AND WHEREAS in pursuance of clause (1) of Article 252 of the Constitution resolutions have been passed by all the Houses of the Legislatures of the State of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal that the matters aforesaid should be regulated in those States by Parliament by law.That the Parliament never intended to take recourse to its powers under Article 250(1), but proceeded to make such a law, being clothed with its powers to legislate on the subject under Article 252(1). The Act was, therefore, a law enacted by the Parliament by virtue of its powers under Article 252(1). The Statement of Objects and Reasons really places the matter beyond all doubt. Its material portion reads:Statement of Objects and Reasons.There has been a demand for imposing a ceiling on urban property also, especially after the imposition of a ceiling on agricultural lands by the State Governments. With the growth of population and increase in urbanization, a need for orderly development of urban areas has also been felt. It is, therefore, considered necessary to take measures for exercising social control over the scarce resource of urban land with a view to ensuring its equitable distribution amongst the various sections of society and also avoiding speculative transactions relating to land in urban agglomerations. With a view to ensuring uniformity in approach Government of India addressed the State Governments in this regard; eleven States have so far passed resolutions under Article 252(1) of the Constitution empowering Parliament to undertake legislation in this behalf. The present proposal is to enact a Parliamentary legislation in pursuance of these resolutions.(emphasis supplied)47. There is also some difficulty in accepting the contention of the learned Attorney-General on a matter of construction of Article 252(1). The question of adoption of a law made by the Parliament in respect of any of the matters in State List arises under the second part of Article 252(1) and is dependent upon the desirability expressed by the legislatures of two or more States empowering the Parliament to make such a law under the first part thereof. We are inclined to think that some meaning must be given to the words any Act so passed. The power of adoption, is, therefore, related to a law made under Article 252(1) and cannot be exercised in respect of laws made by the Parliament under Article 250(1) while a Proclamation of Emergency is in force. Furthermore, such a law, in terms of Article 250(2), ceases to have effect on the expiration of a period of six months after the Proclamation has ceased to operate.A fortiori, the specification of the State of Rajasthan by which the Act may be adopted, as well as the categorisation of the urban agglomerations therein to which it may apply, had to be there.50. In our considered judgment, the Parliament having been invested with powers to legislate on a State subject, by resolutions passed by legislatures of two or more States under Article 252(1), has plenary powers to make suitable legislation. It follows, as a necessary corollary, that the Act passed by the Parliament under Article 252(1) can be so structured as to be capable of being effectively adopted by the other States. Article 252(1) undoubtedly enables the Parliament to make a uniform law. The Act so passed would automatically apply to the States the legislature of which have passed a resolution in terms of Article 252(1), and at the same time it must be capable of being adopted by other States which have not sponsored a resolution i.e the non-sponsoring States. The second part of Article 252(1) will be meaningful only if it were so interpreted; otherwise, it would be rendered wholly redundant. To illustrate, if the part of the Schedule relating to the State of Rajasthan is treated as non est, the Schedule which forms part of the Act cannot be amended except under Article 252(2) i.e in the like manner. We fail to appreciate how two or more States can now pass a resolution for extention of the Act to the State of Rajasthan.51. In a law relating to the imposition of ceiling on vacant land in urban agglomerations throughout the territory of India, it was competent for the Parliament under Entry 18, List II of Seventh Schedule not only to have the States specified in the Schedule to the Act where the law will extend, but also include the categorisation of urban agglomerations in respect of the whole of the territory of India. The Act would automatically apply from the date of its application to those States which had passed the resolution in terms of the first part of Article 252(1), and would extend to the adopting States from the date of the resolutions passed by the legislatures of such States. The Parliament had, therefore, in fact and in law, competence to legislate on the subject of the imposition of ceiling on urban immovable property, and the Schedule to the Act cannot, therefore, be struck down in relation to the State of Rajasthan.52. It is conceded by learned counsel for the petitioner that if the Act had been enacted without the Schedule, with an appropriate definition of an urban agglomeration in Section 2(n), in general terms, making the law applicable to cities and towns having, for example, a population of one lakh and above, five lakhs and above, etc., it would have been within the legislative competence of the Parliament. If that be so, then it is inexplicable why simply because some of the areas in some of the States have been specified, although their State legislatures had not sponsored any resolution, the Schedule, insofar as those States are concerned should be regarded as non est. If it is competent for the Parliament to make a general law under Article 252(1) to facilitate its adoption by other States, it must logically follow that the Parliament could also pass the Act in its present form.53. We are of the opinion that the Act with the Schedule annexed became applicable in those States where the legislatures passed resolutions expressing the desirability for the Parliament to make a law for the imposition of ceiling on urban immovable property, and it lay dormant insofar as the other States were concerned. It became applicable to those other States from the date that their Houses of Legislatures adopted it. In that view, we must hold that the impugned Act is not beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament insofar as the State of Rajasthan is concerned.49. It is, however, strenuously urged on behalf of the petitioner that a law made by the Parliament under Article 252(1) cannot be so designated as to extend to the States which had not sponsored a resolution. Emphasis is laid upon the words in such States, and it is said that they mean in those States i.e the sponsoring States. In support of the contention, our attention was particularly drawn to the word accordingly and it is urged that the law passed by the Parliament under Article 252(1) must be restricted in its operation to those States i.e to those States in which the legislature passed a resolution. We are afraid the contention cannot be accepted.