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PART F been required to amend all entries in the Seventh Schedule where the term “State” is used to “State and Union territories”. This would have required a special majority. It was to avoid this time consuming process that the expansive phrase of “insofar as such matter is applicable to Union Territories” was used in Article 239AA.

62. Article 239AA expressly excludes entries 1,2, and 18 of List II from the ambit of the legislative competence of the Legislative Assembly of NCTD. Article 239AA also stipulates that the legislative power of NCTD is excluded with respect to entries 64,65, and 66 of List II insofar as they relate to entries 1,2, and 18. Entry 1 deals with public order, Entry 2 deals with police, and Entry 18 deals with Land. Entry 64 deals with “offences against laws with respect to any of the matters in this List”, Entry 65 states “jurisdiction and powers of all courts, except the Supreme Court, with respect to any of the matters in this List”, and Entry 66 states “fees in respect of any of the matters in this List, but not including fees taken in any court”. The exclusion of entries 64,65, and 66 to the extent that it relates to entries 1,2, and 18 from the legislative competence of NCTD indicates that the governance structure envisaged in Article 239AA for NCTD was only to exclude the specific entries 1, 2, and 18 from its legislative competence. To read the phrase “insofar as such matter is applicable to the Union Territories” as introducing an implied exclusion of the legislative powers of NCTD with respect to certain other entries would be contrary to the plain meaning of the provision.

63. Article 239AA establishes a Legislative Assembly for NCTD. The seats in the Assembly are filled by a direct election from the constituencies of NCTD. The Legislative Assembly of NCTD embodies the constitutional principle of