DiplomacyMadras State (Congress era)
De jure transfer of the French settlements to India
Once France ratified the Treaty of Cession, Pondicherry and the other former French settlements legally became part of India.
India had administered the French settlements since 1 November 1954, but formal union came only in 1962, when the French Parliament ratified the cession treaty that had been signed in 1956. 16 August is observed as the date of the de jure transfer. A Union Territory with its own legislature was then created through the Pondicherry (Administration) Act of 1962 and the Union Territories Act of 1963. From 6 November 1962 Pondicherry came under the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court.
