Property accruing by escheat or lapse or as bona vacantia
included in editionWhat does this mean?
Property without a lawful owner through the specified forms of escheat, lapse or bona vacantia vests in the State or Union under the stated territorial and possession rules. It is not a general power to take anyone's existing property.
Taxes, government funds, financial sharing, property, borrowing, contracts and legal proceedings.
Why is this provision here?
Public assets and obligations need an identifiable legal owner and rules for government economic activity or litigation. This Article resolves the particular issue described above.
This Article number belongs to the original constitutional framework, but its present wording may include later amendments or substitutions. A provision-specific original Assembly debate has not been verified here. The explanation of function above is editorial inference from the text, not an attributed single motive of the framers. The original draft-making archive is a research resource, not proof of a particular historical reason.
The explanation of purpose is an editorial reading of the provision. A drafting motive is attributed only where a linked historical source supports it.
Limits, exceptions & reading carefully
Educational summary of the linked source text. Exceptions, provisos, implementing laws and applicable judgments must be read before applying it to a real case.
Read the official constitutional text
Source-page notes · may concern neighbouring Articles
1. Subs. by the Constitution (Fortieth Amendment) Act, 1976, s. 2 (w.e.f. 27-5-1976). 2. Subs. by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956, s. 20 (w.e.f. 1-11-1956).
Extracted from the Legislative Department’s May 2026 edition. Page footnotes may refer to neighbouring provisions; check their markers in the PDF. Inclusion in this edition does not by itself establish commencement or judicial effect.