z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-08.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 620
620 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
a federation, and Ireland is not a federation.
Dr. Ambedkar: That is so.
Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru: The Bryce Committee had nothing to do with a federation.
Dr. Ambedkar: My reply is that unless your federal constitution was so composed that the Upper House exclusively represented some other interests not represented in the Lower Chamber, the proposition would stand. This has nothing to do with the form of the Government, whether it was unitary or federal.
Sir Provash Chnnder Mitter: I should like to ask one question. The House of Lords was a hereditary House. Was not the Irish Upper House one at that stage also ?
Dr. Ambedkar: I am submitting that even the House of Lords, which is a most ancient House, with all the dignity, traditions and privileges behind it, consented to this revolutionary change. What are the Indian States as compared with the House of Lords, if I may submit it with all due deference ?
H.H. The Maharaja of Bikaner: With all due respect to the great Peers of the British Realm, the States possess sovereignty over any territory which is not British territory, whereas even the most important Peers of the Realm and their estates are in a totally different position.
Dr. Ambedkar: The sovereignty is subject to the influence and power of the House of Lords.
Sir Muhammad Shaft: May I ask Dr. Ambedkar what are the privileges of the House of Lords ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Taking this position, the next thing that I would submit is that the constitution should contain a definition of what a Finance Bill is. It may be defined, as has been suggested, in the way in which it is defined in the Irish Constitution, which is not different from the one given in the Parliament Act of 1911.
The next point that I would submit, arising out of the matter, is that a Member in charge of a Bill should have the privilege of. claiming that his Bill is a Finance Bill. If there is a dispute between the two Houses as to whether or not a Bill claimed to be a Finance Bill is a Finance Bill, I submit that the dispute should be resolved by the decision of a Joint Committee of both Houses, in which each House should be represented by a number of Members proportionate to its strength, and in which all parties should also be represented according to their strength.
Sir Maneckjee Dadabhoy: You want to make a departure from the existing practice.
Dr. Ambedkar: Very much so.
Mr. Zafrullah Khan: If the existing practice were satisfactory we would not be here.
Dr. Ambedkar: The next matter to which I want to come is non-financial