Two union territories merged into one: Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

Background

The UT Administration records that the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli was merged with the neighbouring union territory of Daman and Diu to form the new union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu on January 26, 2020. The territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli then became one of the three districts of the new union territory, as the Dadra and Nagar Haveli District; Daman and Diu are the other two. The merger was carried out by an Act of Parliament. The Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Minister of Home Affairs, amended the First Schedule to the Constitution, which specifies the territories that come under various states and union territories, and amended Article 240(1), under which the President may make regulations for certain union territories, to replace the two old territories with the merged one. The First Schedule to the Representation of the People Act, 1950 had provided one Lok Sabha seat to each of the two union territories; the Bill allocated two Lok Sabha seats to the merged union territory. It also provided that the jurisdiction of the High Court of Bombay would continue to extend to the merged union territory. All three parts were former Portuguese possessions, as Goa was. Dadra and Nagar Haveli, spread over 491.00 sq.kms and landlocked between Gujarat and Maharashtra, was liberated from Portuguese rule on 2nd August 1954 and united with India by the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Act 1961 (No.35 of 1961). Daman was obtained by the Portuguese in 1559 and remained under them till its liberation in 1961. Diu was conquered by the Portuguese in 1546, was liberated on 19th December 1961, and became part of the UT of Goa, Daman and Diu; after the statehood of Goa on 30th May 1987, Daman and Diu became a separate union territory.