1.1.2. Territory of India

The territory of India, which is described in clause (3) falls under three categories:

(i) State Territories

(ii) Union Territories

(iii) Territories which may be acquired by the Government of India

The names of States and Union Territories and their territorial extent are mentioned in the first schedule of the Constitution. At present, there are 28 states and 8 union territories.

The expression ‘Union of India’ should be distinguished from the expression ‘Territory of India’. While the former includes only states which enjoy the status of being member of the federal system and share a distribution of powers with the Union, the “territory of India” includes the entire territory over which the sovereignty of India, for the time, extends and such territories are directly administered by the Central Government.

A territory can be said to have been acquired when the Indian Union acquires sovereignty over such territory according to the modes recognized by International law, i.e. purchase, treaty, cession or conquest. If there was any public notification, assertion or declaration by which the Government of India had declared or treated a territory as part and parcel of India, the Courts would be bound to recognise an ‘acquisition’ as having taken place, with the consequence that the territory would be part of the territory of the Union within Article 1(3)(c).