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The question which next arises for consideration is whether the Land Customs Act, 1924 applied on the relevant date of occurrence namely 13 December, J961 to the Santhal Parganas. The Land Customs Act was enacted in the year 1924 and it was declared to apply to the Santhal Parganas. Prior to the Constitution the Central Acts or Federal Acts or Acts of the Dominion Legislature did not apply to an excluded or a partially excluded area unless they were declared by the Governor to apply to those areas. After the enactment of the Constitution, Article 244 and the Fifth Schedule deal with excluded or partially excluded areas. It was contended on behalf of the State that after the enactment of the Constitution the Land Customs Act, 1924 became applicable to excluded or partially excluded areas because first it was an existing law and secondly the restriction under section 92 of the Government of India Act, 1935 which required a specific declaration of the Governor to apply any legislation to the areas in question was no longer operative. Article 372(l) of the Constitution enacts that the law in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of the Constitution is to continue in force until altered or repealed or amended by a competent legislature or other competent authority. Explanation I to Article 372 is that law in force in the Article shall include a law passed or mad& by the legislature or other competent -authority in the territory of India before the commencement of the -Constitution not withstanding that it or parts of it may not be then in operation either at all or in particular area or, areas. The contention on behalf of the respondent that the Land Customs Act, 1924 would apply to the, Santhal Parganas on the ground that it is an existing law is not acceptable. Article 372 in clause (1) thereof enacts that subject to the other provisions of this Constitution all the laws in force in the territory of India shall continue in force. The Fifth Schedule to the Constitution relates to excluded or partially excluded areas. The existing law in relation to the excluded areas is saved by Article 372 and Explanation I thereto in spite of operation of such laws in particular areas. Similarly, other laws which were applicable to territories other than the excluded or partially excluded areas are saved by Article 372 Explanation 1. Therefore, laws which were existing law in territories other than excluded or partially excluded areas would not be existing law under Article 372 in relation to excluded or partially excluded areas. Nor would existing law for the rest of India be existing law to area in question within the meaning of paragraph 5 in the Fifth Schedule to the Constitution. The Land Customs Act, 1924 cannot therefore be said to apply to Santhal Parganas as an existing law.