z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-09.indd MK SJ+DK 21-9-2013 675
EVIDENCE : SIR PATRICK JAMES FAGAN AND OTHERS 675
Simon Commission Report in support of the statement you made just now. Is it not a fact that Sir John Simon was driven almost against his will to recommend the transfer of law and order simply because he came to the conclusion that to keep that as a reserved subject would expose the services operating in that Department to extreme criticism ?
Sir P. J. Fagan : That is again, I think, a subject that we would rather avoid. It is a very debatable subject and I believe there are very diverse opinions on the subject. I am not responsible for what Sir John Simon may have thought.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Do you agree that that was the reason for its prevailing with the Simon Commission Report ?
Sir Austen Chamberlain : The witness has already asked to be excused from answering that question.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not wish to press it if he does not wish to answer.
Sir Austen Chamberlain : Surely it is not a proper question to press the representatives of the Civil Service on. who come to speak to their own special position and claims, and not to take part in a discusssion about general reform in India.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : The reason Sir John Simon cites for the transfer of law and order was that reserving that Department outside the control of the Legislature and the Minister would expose the Department to far greater criticism from the Press and the public.
Viscount Burnham : As a member of the Statutory Commission, what Dr. Ambedkar has said is a most misleading account.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Possibly I may have misread it.
(2)
Mr. Sachchidananda Sinha, Barrister-at-Law, M.I.C.
*1985. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I want to ask you, first of all, a question about the special powers of the Governor, especially his power to take action in order to prevent a menace to peace and tranquillity. I want to draw your attention, if I may, to the position as it exists today with regard to the administration of the transferred subjects. Have you got the Government of India Act before you ?
Mr. Sachchidananda Sinha : Yes.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Will you just refer to Section 52 of the Government of India Act ?
Mr. Sachchidananda Sinha : Yes.
- Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not want to take you to Section 45 of the Government of India Act which provides for the classification of subjects transferred and reserved ; that we know. I am dealing only with the question
*Minutes of Evidence, Vol. II-A, 22nd June 1933, pp. 256-58.