The State Government has the authority to make the West Bengal Land Reforms Act applicable to the transferred territories through Notifications issued under Section 3(3) of the West Bengal Transferred Territories (Assimilation of Laws) Act, 1958.

In these appeals question arose whether the provision of Chapter IIB of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, would be applicable in respect of the District of Purulia which was a transferred territory. The District of Purulia was a part of the State of Bihar and that the Parliament has enacted the Bihar and West Bengal Transfer or Territories Act, 19 of 1956. Section 44 of this Act provides that "For the purpose of facilitating the application of any law in relation to Bihar or West Bengal, the appropriate Government may, before the expiration of one year from the appointed day, by order make such adoptations and modifications of the law, whether by way of appeal or amendment as may be necessary or expedient, and thereupon every such law shall have effect, subject to the adoptations and modifications so made until altered, repealed or amended by a competent authority or competent legislature :–

Explanation–In this section, the expression "appropriate Government" means, as respects any law relating to a matter enumerated in the Union List, the Central Government, and as respects any other law, the State Government.

2. Thereafter, the West Bengal State Legislature passed an order known as West Bengal Transferred Territories (Assimilation of Laws) Act, 1958 referred to the Second Act. In Section 3(3) of the said Act, it is provided that the Acts specified in Schedule III of this Second Act including the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act as well as the West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 shall exist to or come into force in the transferred territories or any part thereof with effect from such date or dates as the State Government may, by Notification issued in the Official Gazette from time to time appended in this behalf.

3. Admittedly, Clause 6 of Section 2. Sections 4(1), (2), (4) and (5), 14, 15, 49 and 58 of the West Bengal Land Reforms Act came into force on the 7th June, 1965, in all the districts of West Bengal except in the areas transferred from Bihar to West Bengal under Act 40 of 1956. Subsequently, all the provisions of Chapters IIA, IV, VI, VII and VIII and Section 15, sub-section (3) of Section 17, Sections 39 to 42, 53 to 56 and Clauses (1), (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6) of Section 59 came into force in all the areas transferred from Bihar to West Bengal under the Bihar and West Bengal (Transfer of Territories) Act, 1956 (40 of 1956) on the 1st October, 1969, by Notification No. 17885L Ref/16M-278/68 dated the 25th September, 1969, published in the Calcutta Gazette extraordinary of the 26th September, 1969, Part-I, page 3261.

4. Under the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act, 1953, the Section 60 of the West Bengal Acquisition Act, provides that "the provision of the said Act shall come into force on such date and in such areas of the transferred territories as the State Government may, by Notification in the Official Gazette, appoint, and for this purpose different dates may be appointed for different areas. Section 61 of the said Act provides that". On the issue of a Notification under Section 60 in this behalf, the area in respect of which such Notification is issued. The Bihar Land Reforms Act, 1950 shall stand repealed and the provisions, of the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act shall apply mutatis mutandis.

5. The question whether by virtue of Notification issued in this behalf, the provision of the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act to be made applicable to the transferred area including the District of Purulia, came up for consideration before a Division Bench this Court in the case of (1) Debi Mata v. State of West Bengal reported in AIR 1973 Cal page 171, wherein a point was taken that contention was raised that Sections 60 and 61 of the West Bengal Estate Acquisition Act constitute a delegation of legislative power by the Legislature to the executive and as such the same are bad is misconceived. The Division Bench of this Court presided over by the learned Chief Justice, P. B. Mukharji (As His Lordship then