 bill no  lviii  of  2008 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2008 a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the constitution (amendment)  act, 2008short title and commencement(2) it shall come into force with immediate effect2 in article 371f of the constitution—(a) the existing clause shall be numbered as clause (1);amendment of article 371f(b) after the clause (1) so numbered the following clause shall be inserted, namely:—(2) notwithstanding anything in this constitution, there shall be paid out of the consolidated fund of india as grants-in-aid of the revenues of the state of sikkim such capital and recurring sums equivalent to the costs of such schemes of development as may be undertaken by that state for the purpose of raising the standards of living of the people of that state and in particular the schemes relate to promotion of tourism, khadi, village, small, tiny and medium enterprises, infrastructure like roads, airport, communication, power, water, education, transport, railways, afforestation, health services, hospitality services, information technology, vocational professional, medical and technical education and training etc and for welfare measures for the linguistic minorities, tribals, farmers, senior citizens, disabled citizens and women of that state statement  of  objects  and  reasonssikkim, a small, beautiful picturesque himalayan state is one of the north-eastern states of the indian union in fact, it is a new addition to the north-eastern states its population includes linguistic minorities, tribals and others who are religious and hard working but being a hilly state, it is still backward with poverty and unemployment amongst its masses it has vast potentials to develop tourism, orchards, medicinal plants, jungle products and village industries particularly, food processing, bee keeping, livestock, poultry, etc handicrafts and small and tiny industrial units but these potentials have not been exploited to the full extent in the absence of requisite infrastructure and development schemes the state is handicapped with resources crunch resulting in hampering of developmental activities in the state hence, it has become necessary to ensure that central government will provide grants-in-aid for the developmental and welfare schemes of sikkim to ensure its overall progresshence this billo t lepcha financial  memorandumclause 2 of bill provides for grants-in-aid to be paid from the consolidated fund of india to sikkim for development and welfare schemes the bill, if enacted will involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is estimated that a sum of rupees twenty thousand crores may involve as recurring expenditure per annuma sum of rupees ten thousand crores may also involve as non-recurring expenditure from the consolidated fund of india annexure extract from the constitution of india     1[371f notwithstanding anything in this constitution,—(a) the legislative assembly of the state of sikkim shall consist of not less than thirty members;(b) as from the date of commencement of the constitution (thirty-sixth amendment) act, 1975 (hereafter in this article referred to as the appointed day)—(i) the assembly for sikkim formed as a result of the elections held in sikkim in april, 1974 with thirty-two members elected in the said elections (hereinafter referred to as the sitting members) shall be deemed to be the legislative assembly of the state of sikkim duly constituted under this constitution;(ii) the sitting members shall be deemed to be the members of the legislative assembly of the state of sikkim duly elected under this constitution; and(iii) the said legislative assembly of the state of sikkim shall exercise the powers and perform the functions of the legislative assembly of a state under this constitution; (c) in the case of the assembly deemed to be the legislative assembly of the state of sikkim under clause (b), the references to the period of 1[five years], in clause (1) of article 172 shall be construed as references to a period of 2[four years] and the said period of 2[four years] shall be deemed to commence from the appointed day;(d) until other provisions are made by parliament by law, there shall be allotted to the state of sikkim one seat in the house of the people and the state of sikkim shall form one parliamentary constituency to be called the parliamentary constituency for sikkim;(e) the representative of  the state of sikkim in the house of the people in existence on the appointed day shall be elected by the members of the  legislative assembly of the state of  sikkim;(f) parliament may, for the purpose of protecting the rights and interests of the different sections of the population of sikkim make provision for the number of seats in the legislative assembly of the state of sikkim which may be filled by candidates belonging to such sections and for the delimitation of the assembly constituencies from which candidates belonging to such sections alone may stand for election to  the legislative assembly of the state of  sikkim;(g) the governor of sikkim shall have special responsibility for peace and for an equitable arrangement for ensuring the social and economic advancement of different sections of the population of sikkim and in the discharge of his special responsibility under this clause, the governor of sikkim shall, subject to such directions as the president may, from time to time deem fit to issue, act in his discretion;(h) all property and assets (whether within or outside the territories comprised in the state of sikkim) which immediately before the appointed day were vested in the government of sikkim or in any other authority or in any person for  the purposes of the government of sikkim shall, as from the appointed day, vest in the government of the state of sikkim;(i) the high court functioning as such immediately before the appointed day in the territories comprised in the state of sikkim shall, on and from the appointed day, be deemed to be the high court for the state of sikkim;(j) all courts of civil, criminal and revenue jurisdiction, all authorities and all officers, judicial, executive and ministerial, throughout the territory of the state of sikkim shall continue on and from the appointed day to exercise their respective functions subject to the provisions of this constitution;(k) all laws in force immediately before the appointed day in the territories comprised in the state of sikkim or any part thereof shall continue to be in force therein until amended or repealed by a competent legislature or other competent authority;(l) for the purpose of facilitating the application of any such law as is referred to in clause (k) in relation to the administration of the state of sikkim and for the purpose of bringing the provisions of any such law into accord with the provisions of this constitution, the president  may, within two years from the appointed day, by order, make such adaptations and modifications of the law, 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, and any such adaptation or modification shall not be questioned in any court of law;(m) neither the supreme court nor any other court shall have jurisdiction; in respect of any dispute or other matter arising out of any treaty, agreement, engagement or other similar instrument  relating to sikkim which  was  entered into or executed before the appointed day and  to which the government of india or any of its predecessor  governments was a party, but nothing in this clause shall be construed to derogate from the provisions of article 143;(n) the president may, by   public notification, extent with such restrictions or modifications as he thinks fit to the state of sikkim any enactment which is in force in a state in india at the date of the notification;(o) if any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of  the foregoing provisions of this article, the president may, by order 1, do anything (including any adaptation or modification of any other article) which appears to him to be necessary for the purpose of removing that difficulty:provided that no such order shall be made after the expiry of two years from the appointed day;(p) all things done and all actions taken in or in relation to the state of sikkim or the territories comprised therein during the period commencing on the appointed day and ending immediately before the date on which the constitution (thirty-sixth amendment) act, 1975, receives the assent of the president shall, in so far as they are in conformity with the provisions of this constitution as amended by the constitution (thirty-sixth amendment) act, 1975, be deemed for all purposes to have been validly done or taken under this constitution as so amended]       rajya  sabha a billfurther to amend the constitution of india(shri o t lepcha, mp)gmgipmrnd—4768rs(s-1)—29-12-2008