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Showing contexts for: declaratory acts in The Central Bank Of India vs Their Workmen(And Connected Appeals) on 12 May, 1959Matching Fragments
(2)................................
(3)If any question arises in any particular case wither the remuneration is excessive within the meaning of sub-
clause (iii) of clause (b) of subsection (1), the decision of the Reserve Bank thereon shall be final for all purposes."
It will be noticed that the amended section has a proviso which makes it clear that nothing in the relevent clause in subs-s. (1) shall apply to the payment of any bonus by any banking company in pursuance of a settlement or award arrived at or made under any law relating to industrial disputes or in accordance with any scheme framed by such banking company or in accordance with the usual practice prevailing in banking business. It is clear that the amended section does not stand in the way of the grant of industrial bonus. It was, however, not in force at the time relevent in these appeals, and there is nothing in the Banking' Companies (Amendment) Act, 1956, which would make it retrospective in operation. Shri N. C. Chatterjee has, however, contended that the amending Act is declaratory of the law as it always was, and Shri Phadke has contended that the amending Act is parliamentary exposition of the true meaning of s. 10 of the Banking Act. We are unable to accept any of these two contentions. The amending Act states in its long title that it is an Act to amend the Banking Companies Act, 1949. Section 2 states: "For section 10 of the Banking Companies Act, 1949, the following section shall be substituted." There is nothing in the amending Act to indicate that it was enacted to remove any doubt, explain any former statute, or correct any omission or error, What is a declaratory Act The following observations in Craies on Statute Law, Fifth. edition, pp. 56-57 are apposite:
" For modern purposes a declaratory Act may be defined as an Act to remove doubts existing as to the common law, or the meaning or effect of any statute. Such Acts are usually held to be retrospective. The usual reason for passing a declaratory Act is to set aside what Parliament deems to have been a judicial error, whether in the statement of the common law or in the interpretation of statutes. Usually, if not invariably, such an Act contains a preamble, and also the word "declared" as well as the word 'enacted'. A remedial Act, on the contrary, is not necessarily retrospective; it may be either enlarging or restraining and it takes effect prospectively, unless it has retrospective affect by express terms or necessary intendment. We are of the view that the amending Act of 1956 is not a declaratory Act, and except in the small matter of the expression 'shall continue to employ' in sub-s. (1), it does not purport to explain any former law or declare what the law has always been. It is an ordinary remedial piece of legislation which came into effect from January 14, 1957. For the period relating to the appeals before us, the amended section was not in force.