Constitution Assignment
The case of West Bengal v/s union of India arises from the point of conflict of encroachment of the power of the state vis-à-vis the union parliament.
The case came to place because Under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act, 1957, enacted by Parliament, the Union of India proposed to acquire certain coal bearing areas in the State of West Bengal. The State filed a suit contending that the Act did not apply to lands vested in or owned by the State and that if it applied to such lands the Act was beyond the legislative competence of Parliament.
The main question raised in this case was sovereignty of legislatures, central vis-à-vis the constitution.
As has been held of the following case of State of West Bengal v/s Union of India it was held that “The Constitution of India is not truly Federal in character. The basis of distribution of powers between the Union and States is that only those powers which are concerned with the regulation of local problems are vested in the States and the residue specially those which tend to maintain the economic industrial and commercial unity of the country are left to the Union.”
It is not correct to say that fall sovereignty is vested in the States. Parliament which is competent to destroy a State cannot be held, on the theory of absolute sovereignty of the States, to be incompetent to acquire by legislation the property owned by the States. Even if the Constitution were held to be a Federation and the States regarded qua the Union as sovereign, the power of the Union to legislate in respect of the property situate in the States would remain unrestricted.
Under section 127 of the Government of India Act, 1933, the Central Government could require the Province to acquire land on behalf of the Federation if it was private land and to transfer it to the Federation if it was land