The Absorbed Areas (Laws) Act was enacted on April 30, 1954 which was modified several times. It is an Act that extends to some of the enactments to areas which were administered and managed as excluded or areas that are partly excluded before to the initiation of the Constitution and were immersed in some states on such commencement. As provided under the Act, ‘Absorbed area’ with respect to an absorbed state denotes a State described in the heading provided in the Schedule where the absorbed area is expressed. In relation to the Act, ‘Absorbed area’ symbolizes an area which is precised in the second column of the Schedule. Additionally, the enactments provided in the first column of every Schedule as well as all rules, orders, byelaw, notifications, forms and schemes that are being formulated which are enforced in the absorbing State and provided in the heading stated in the Schedule are extended by the enactment. It shall be enforced in the absorbed areas that are detailed in the second column of the schedule. The Act provides for five Schedules where the absorbed areas in the States of Bihar, Bombay, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are listed. The Act divides the Schedule again into two parts: Name of the Act and The Absorbed Areas.
As provided under the Act, the first Schedule to the Absorbed Areas (Laws) Act, 1954 provides the absorbed areas of Bihar as Districts of Hazaribagh and Manbhum and Sadar Sub-division of the Palamau District. It also includes Dhalbhum Sub-division of the Singhbhum District as well as Godda and Deoghar Sub-divisions of the Santal Parganas District. These areas are included as the absorbed area under The Requisitioned Land (Apportionment of Compensation) Act, 1949. Under the second Schedule to the Act, absorbed areas in Bombay and related enactments are included. The Shahda Nandurbar and Taloda Taluka of the West Khandesh District are considered to be absorbed areas under The Indian Extradition Act, 1903. With respect to The Whipping Act, 1909, Dohad Taluka and the Jhalod Mahal of the Panch Mahal District are stated as absorbed area. Other Acts coming under the second Schedule are The Seaward Artillery Practice Act of 1949, The Police (Incitement of Disaffection) Act of 1922, The Port Haj Committees Act of 1932 and The Cotton Transport Act of 1923 which declare some parts of Bombay as absorbed area.
Moreover in Orissa, The Indian Emigration Act of 1922, The Metal Tokens Act of 1889, The Coal mines Provident Fund and Bonus Schemes Act of 1948, The Coal Grading Board Act of 1925 and The White Phosphorus Matches Prohibition Act of 1913 are the enactments provided under the third Schedule of the Act. These Acts declare certain parts of Orissa like Angul as the absorbed area under the Act. The fourth Schedule to the Act pronounces some parts of Uttar Pradesh as absorbed areas. Accordingly, areas such as Jaunsar Bawar Parganas in Dehra Dun District as well as areas of south of Kaimpur range in the Mirzapur District are scheduled as absorbed area under The Indian Power Alcohol Act, 1948 and The Employee’s State Insurance Act, 1948. The fifth Schedule to the Act proclaims Darjeeling District in West Bengal as absorbed area. These areas are listed as absorbed areas as provided under The Requisitioned Land (Apportionment of Compensation) Act, 1949 and The West Bengal Raw Jute Futures Act, 1948. The Absorbed Areas (Laws) Act, 1954 hence, provides for the areas that are described as absorbed areas under Central Government through this enactment. These areas were so described in order to ascertain the absorbed areas before the commencement of Indian Constitution.