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The notification issued by the President of India on July 24, 1959, under Art. 258(1) in terms entrusted certain functions under the Land Acquisition Act to the Commissioners of Divisions in the State of Bombay and it was recited therein that the consent to such entrustment of the State Government of Bombay had been obtained. It is common ground that before the date of the notification issued by the Commissioner, Baroda Division, who was then functioning as an officer of the State of Gujarat, under s. 4 of the Land Acquisition Act no order expressly entrusting the functions of the Union Government under the Land Acquisition Act to any officer in the State of Gujarat was issued by the President, and the authority of the Commissioner to notify for acquisition of the land of the appellant was sought to be derived solely from ss. 82 and 87 of the Bombay Reorganisation Act. The appellant contended that the power exercisable by the President being executive in character, the functions which may be entrusted to a State Government or to an officer of that State under Art. 258(1) are executive, and entrustment of such executive authority not being "law" within the meaning of S. 87 of the Bombay Reorganisation Act, the Commissioners of the new State of Gujarat after May 1, 1960, were incompetent, by virtue of the Presidential notification, to exercise the functions of the Union Government under the Land Acquisition Act. Support to this plea was sought to be derived from the division of part XI of the Constitution into Ch. 1 containing Arts. 245 to 255 dealing with distribution of legislative powers and Ch. 11 containing Arts. 256 to 261 dealing with "administrative relations between the States", and it was submitted that Art. 258, occurring as it does in Ch. 11 of Part XI, must be deemed to deal with matters administrative or executive and not legislative. Founding the argument upon the title of Ch. 11 and the character of the two preceding Arts. 256 and 257 dealing with the exercise of the executive power of the State so as to ensure compliance with the laws made by Parliament, and in a manner so as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive power of the Union which extends to the giving to the State Governments directions as may be necessary for that purpose, it was claimed that Art. 258 deals with the entrustment of executive functions and that entrustment of executive functions by notification issued by the President cannot amount to law, within the meaning of s. 87 of the Bombay Reorganisation Act. The plea about the placing of Art. 258 in Ch. 11 and the character of the two preceding Articles as indicative of the character of the powers conferred by Art. 258(1) is not at all decisive: for cl. (2) of Art. 258, and cl. (3) of Art. 261, which occur in Ch. 11, deal with matters legislative and judicial. At this stage Art. 258 may be set out:

We must therefore proceed to consider whether functions which can be entrusted to the State Government or to its officers with the consent of the State Government under Art. 258(1) are only executive functions or all kinds of functions, whether executive, legislative or quasi-judicial. Article 258(1) reads as follows :-

"(1) Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, the President may, with the consent of the Government of a State, entrust either conditionally or unconditionally to that Government or to its officers functions in relation to any matter to which the executive power of the Union extends."

Chapter II is headed "administrative relations" and contains Articles from 256 to 263. It is divided into three parts, namely, general, disputes relating to water and co- ordination between States, and is mainly concerned with seeing that the executive power of the Union and of the States is smoothly exercised where it is to be exercised in the same territory. Article 256 lays down that "the executive power of every State shall be so exercised as to ensure compliance with the laws made by Parliament and any existing laws which apply in that State, and the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of such directions to a State as may appear to the Government of India to be necessary for that purpose". Article 257 provides for control of the Union over States in certain cases and lays down that the executive power of a State shall be so exerciser as not to impede or prejudice the exercise of the executive power of the Union. It further lays down that the executive power of the Union shall extend to the giving of directions to a State for certain, purposes and also for payment of certain sums in certain circumstances by the Government at India to the Government of a State. Then comes Art. 258, the first clause of which we have already set out. The second clause provides that a law made by Parliament which applies in any State may, notwithstanding that it relates to a matter with respect to which the Legislature of the State has no power to make laws, confer powers and impose duties or authorise the conferring at' powers and the imposition of duties, upon the State or officers and authorities thereof. This clause may be contrasted with cl. (1). Under cl. (1) no entrustment of function can take place without the consent of the State Government but under cl. (2) Parliament may by law confer powers and impose duties in certain circumstances and the consent of the State Government is not necessary for this purpose. This clearly brings out the distinction between entrustment of functions which is exercise of executive power under Art. 258 (1) and the making of a law conferring powers and duties which in express terms is exercise of legislative power under Art. 258(2). Clause (3) provides for payment of certain sums. This clause in OUT opinion refers only to cl. (2), for there is no question of settlement of payment after the consent of the State Government has been obtained. If there is to be any payment for carrying out functions entrusted under Art. 258(1) it will be settled when consent is obtained. Article 258-A is the counterpart of Art. 258(1) and permits the Governor of a State with the consent of the Government of India, to entrust either conditionally or unconditionally to that Government or to its officers functions in relation to any matter to which the executive power of the State extends. Article 260 gives power to the Government of India by agreement with the Government of any territory not being the territory of India to undertake any executive, legislative or judicial functions vested in the Government of such territory. This Article certainly refers to legislative, judicial and executive functions but they are referred to expressly and the Constitution- makers did not content themselves with using only the word "functions". Article 261 provides for full faith and credit to public acts, records and judicial proceedings. Clause (2) thereof lays down bow such full faith and credit as provided in cl. (1) shall be given and says that it shall be done as provided by law made by Parliament. Clause (3) provides that final judgments or orders delivered or passed by civil courts in any part of the territory of India shall be capable of execution anywhere within that territory according to law. It will be seen that Art. 261 also where it departs from dealing with executive functions specifically mentions whether the functions are legislative or judicial. Article 262 deals with disputes relating to water and gives power to Parliament by law to provide for ad judication of such disputes. Here again this Article does not deal with executive functions and this is clear from the words used in the Article. Article 263 deals with co- ordination between States and provides for the setting up of inter-State Councils and is obviously of an executive nature.