Court caseAIR 1955 SC 781

The C.P. and Berar Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Act 1947 authorised the Provincial Government to take over the entire motor transport business in the province to the exclusion of private operators. When the Constitution came into force the Act became inconsistent with Article 19(1)(g). The Constitution (First Amendment) Act 1951 amended Article 19(6) to permit the State to carry on any trade or business to the exclusion of citizens. In 1955 the State notified its intention to take over the transport routes; the operators challenged the notification, arguing that the 1947 Act had died on 26 January 1950 and could not be revived.

Das ACJ held that the 1947 Act was not dead. Article 13(1) does not make a pre-Constitution law void ab initio; it renders it inoperative only 'to the extent of the inconsistency' and only as against citizens whose fundamental rights are affected. The law remains on the statute book, in a dormant or eclipsed state, continuing to bind non-citizens and governing past transactions. When the First Amendment removed the inconsistency, the shadow lifted and the Act became fully operative again without re-enactment. The petitions were dismissed.