Transitional Provisions :

The purpose of incorporating Transitional Provisions in any Act is to clarify as to when and how the operative parts of the enactments are to take effect. The Transitional Provisions generally are intended to take care of the events during the period of transition.

Francis Bennion in his book on Statutory Interpretation (14 Edition, p.442) outlines the purpose of transitional provisions as follows:–

“189. Transitional Provisions: Transitional provisions in an Act are provisions which spell out precisely when and how the operative parts of the instrument are to take effect Where an act contains substantive, amending or repealing enactments, it commonly also includes transitional provisions which regulate the coming into operation of those  enactments and modify their effect during the period transition.”

G. C. Thornton in his treatise on “Legislative Drafting” has stated that –

“The function of a transitional provision is to make special provision for the application of legislation to the circumstances which exist when that legislation comes into force.”