z:\ ambedkar\vol-02\vol2-10.indd MK SJ+YS 21-9-2013/YS-8-11-2013 776
776 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
†11,297. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: My Lord Chairman, I would like to point out to the Secretary of State that the expression which we find in the Government of India Act—“existing and accruing rights”—is an expression which is also found in the South African Constitution Act. I was wondering whether it would not be possible for us to get a statement from the Dominion Office to find out exactly how that expression has been acted upon in South Africa ?
Sir Samuel Hoare : We made an inquiry upon this very point. Dr. Ambedkar, I think, did allude to it during the summer and I have asked the Dominion Office for the information. I have not yet got it, but I am told that the cases are separate and distinct. In the case of South Africa there is no promise of compensation at all.
Sir Manubhai N. Mehta: I think they have it in Australia as well.
11,298. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: I simply wanted to know how the expression, “accruing rights”, had been interpreted in South Africa by the South African Government. The expression is exactly the same ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: I will see if I can get it. I asked about South Africa and Australia as well.
‡11,438. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: There is nothing to prevent a Public Service Commission being appointed for one province or for two provinces ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: No ; we do make provision for that purpose.
§11,526. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Might I intervene just for a moment to point out that the result to which Sir Malcolm Hailey has referred, namely, the denudation of the services of the local element, as soon as they are transferred to ministerial control is largely due to the fact that this transfer has also been accompanied by a reduction in the scale of salary. When a service has become provincialised the Minister has adopted a lower scale of salary than was obtainable formerly, and, consequently, the smaller scale of salary has not attracted European candidates ?
Sir Samuel Hoare: Yes ; they have substituted, in other words, ‘Imperial’ for ‘Provincial’ services.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: It is the salary that has made the difference—not the transfer.
¶11,669. Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Might I make a suggestion for consideration on this matter ? Instead of giving the right outright to the new entrant would it not be better for the Secretary of State to retain a discretion in his own hands which he may exercise in a genuine case where a man wants to
†Minutes of Evidence, Vol. II-B, 3rd October 1933, p. 1032.
‡ Ibid., p. 1056.
§ Ibid., p. 1058.
¶Ibid., p. 1072.