146 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
undertaken by itself. This, it is found, is a great lacuna. It is necessary in the opinion of the experts that such a power should be given to the Board and consequently the first amendment which clause 2 of the Bill proposes to make is to alter the wording of sub-clause (iii) of clause (1) of section 8, by permitting the Board to undertake stowing directly by itself and to spend money on that purpose out of the fund which it controls. The second amendment to the Bill relates to section 10. Section 9, sub-clause (3) of the Coal Mines Safety (Stowing) Act permits the Chief Inspector of Mines to issue an order on the owner or the agent of a coal mine, and to require him to take such protective measures as may be necessary in the interest of the safety of coal. Section 10 of the Act makes such an order an appealable order, but it has been found that while the order issued by the Coal Mining expert or the Inspector is an appealable order, there is no provision made in the Act to permit the owner to go to the appellate body and obtain stay or execution of the order issued against him by the Inspector of Coal Mines. It has been suggested that this is an unfortunate provision, that there should be a right of appeal, but there should not be a provision for the stay of execution of the original order. This lacuna is sought to be removed by the addition of a proviso to section 10 of the present Act and this is done by clause 3 of the present Bill. The third amendment which is sought to be made in the Act relates to the question whether the Board should or should not have authority to undertake stowing by itself. Stowing is an important function. Its purpose is to save coal which otherwise is likely to burn away. It has been found that there are some mines which are abandoned, over which there is nobody to exercise any control, and most persons, it has been found, very easily abandon mines whenever they find that the coal underneath has taken fire. There are cases where the ownership of a mine is in dispute or where the owner is not in a position to undertake stowing operations himself. Consequently in such cases there is nobody on whom the liability for stowing could be imposed nor is there anybody on whom an order could be served. To avoid such a situation, it is felt that power must be given to the Board in order that the Board might itself undertake the work of stowing. Incidentally, if the Board is to perform such a task it must also be given the power to enter upon the land which is the property of the mine owner. This is sought to be done