THE PONDICHERRY (ALTERATION OF NAME) ACT, 2006 
________ 

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
_______ 

SECTIONS 

1.  Short title and commencement. 
2.  Definitions. 
3.  Alteration of name of the Union territory of Pondicherry. 
4.  Amendment of Part VIII of the Constitution. 
5.  Amendment of First Schedule to the Constitution. 
6.  Amendment of Fourth Schedule to the Constitution. 
7.  Amendment of section 2 of Act 20 of 1963. 
8.  Power to adapt laws. 
9.  Power to construe laws. 
10.  Legal proceedings. 

1 

 
 
 
 
THE PONDICHERRY (ALTERATION OF NAME) ACT, 2006 

ACT NO. 44 OF 2006 

[13th September, 2006.] 

An Act to alter the name of the Union territory of Pondicherry. 

BE it enacted by Parliament in the Fifty-seventh Year of the Republic of India as follows:— 

1.  Short  title  and  commencement.—(1)  This  Act  may  be  called  the  Pondicherry  (Alteration  of 

Name) Act, 2006. 

(2)  It  shall  come  into  force  on  such  date1  as  the  Central  Government  may,  by  notification  in  the 

Official Gazette, appoint. 

2. Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,— 

(a) “appointed day” means the date appointed under sub-section (2) of section 1 for the coming 

into force of this Act; 

(b) “appropriate Government” means the Central Government, and as respects a law relating to a 
matter enumerated in the State List or the Concurrent List in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution 
in  so  far  as  any  such  matter  is  applicable  in relation  to  the  Union  territory  of  Puducherry,  also the 
administrator of the Union territory of Puducherry; 

(c)  “law”  includes  any  enactment,  Ordinance,  regulation,  order,  bye-law,  rule,  scheme, 
notification or other instrument having the force of law in the whole or any part of the Union territory 
of Pondicherry. 

3.  Alteration  of  name  of  the  Union  territory  of  Pondicherry.—As  from  the  appointed  day,  the 

Union territory of Pondicherry shall be known as the Union territory of Puducherry. 

4.  Amendment  of  Part  VIII  of  the  Constitution.—In  Part  VIII  of  the  Constitution,  for  the  word 

“Pondicherry”, wherever it occurs, the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted. 

5.  Amendment  of First  Schedule  to the  Constitution.—In  the  First Schedule  to  the  Constitution, 
under the heading “II. THE UNION TERRITORIES”, in entry 6, under the column “Name”, for the word 
“Pondicherry”, the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted. 

6.  Amendment  of  Fourth  Schedule  to  the  Constitution.—In  the  Fourth  Schedule  to  the 
Constitution, under the heading “TABLE”, in entry 30, in the second column, for the word “Pondicherry” 
the word “Puducherry” shall be substituted. 

7. Amendment of section 2 of Act 20 of 1963.—In the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, 
in section 2, in sub-section (1), in clause (h), for the word “Pondicherry”, the word “Puducherry” shall be 
substituted. 

8. Power to adapt laws.—(1) For the purpose of giving effect to the alteration of  the name of the 
Union  territory  of  Pondicherry  by  section  3,  the  appropriate  Government  may,  before  the  expiration  of 
one  year  from  the  appointed  day,  by  order,  make  such  adaptations  and  modifications  of  any  law  made 
before the appointed day, whether by way of repeal or amendment, as may be necessary or expedient, and 
thereupon every such law shall have effect subject to the adaptations and modifications so made. 

(2) Nothing in sub-section (1) shall be deemed to prevent Parliament or Legislative Assembly of the 
Union territory of Puducherry or other competent authority from repealing or amending any law adapted 
or modified by the appropriate Government under the said sub-section. 

9.  Power  to  construe  laws.—Notwithstanding  that  no  provision  or  insufficient  provision  has  been 
made under section 8 for  the adaptation of  a law made before the appointed day, any court, tribunal or 
authority,  required  or  empowered  to  enforce  such  law,  may  construe  the  law  in  such  manner,  without 

1. 1st October, 2006, vide notification No. S.O. 1627(E), dated, 28th September, 2006, see Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part 

II, sec. 3(ii). 

2 

 
                                                           
affecting the substance, as may be necessary or proper in regard to the matter before the court, tribunal or 
authority. 

10.  Legal  proceedings.—Where  immediately  before  the  appointed  day  any  legal  proceedings  are 
pending to which the administrator of the Union territory of Pondicherry is a party, or the Union of India 
represented by the said administrator is a party, then, for the purposes of those proceedings, any reference 
to  the  administrator  of  the  Union  territory  of  Pondicherry  shall  be  construed  as  a  reference  to  the 
administrator of the Union territory of Puducherry. 

_____ 

3 

 
