HC Deb 29 April 1935 vol 301 cc92-3

Subject as hereinafter provided, any property in India accruing to His Majesty by escheat or lapse, or as bona vacantia for want of a rightful owner, shall, if it is property situate in a Province, vest in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of that Province, and shall in any other case vest in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of the Federation:

Provided that any property which at the date when it accrued to His Majesty was in the possession, or under the control, of the Federal Government or the Government of a Province shall, according as the purposes for which it was then used or held were purposes of the Federation or of a Province, vest in His Majesty for the purposes of the Government of the Federation or for the purposes of the Government of that Province.—[The Solicitor-General.]

Brought up, and read the First time.

6.26 p.m.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL

I beg to move, "That the Clause be read a Second time."

This is a rather technical subject. The Committee will remember that Clauses 168 and 169 deal with the allocation of property as between the Provinces and the Centre. Some careful eye has discovered that those provisions, detailed as they were, did not say how in future property going to the State by escheat or as bona vacantia should be allocated as between the Provinces and the Centre. There is the case of a man who dies without heirs or next-of-kin, and whose goods go as bona vacantia to the State. There is also the case of various moneys deposited which are never claimed, and which, after lapse of time, go to the State. You have to have some provision by which in future those sums are allocated as between the Centre and the Provinces, and the proposed new Clause provides that property situated in a Province goes to the Province and property outside goes to the Federation. There is a proviso to deal with funds which are actually within the control of the Government, that is to say, for example, money in Court. It provides that if circumstances arise which entitle the State to claim them, either as escheated or as bona vacantia, the moneys are divided according to the purpose for which they were held at the time. The arrangements suggested by the proposed new Clause for dealing with these not very large sums are, we believe, the best in the circumstances.

Clause added to the Bill.