386 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
that oral evidence will not be permitted. If the House will refer to clause 12 of this Bill they will see this point made abundantly clear. It says :
“No oral evidence having the effect of adding to or otherwise varying or contradicting standing orders as finally certified under this Act shall be admitted in any Court.”
That is really the purport of this Bill. As I said, there is no new principle involved in it. Such an Act exists in the province of Bombay already and all that the Bill proposes to do is to extend the provisions of that Act to other provinces in India.
The Bill has several clauses which are mere matters of procedure, defining how the certifying officer shall proceed in the matter when he receives the text of the terms and conditions from the employer. He is required to give notice to the workman employed in that establishment and to hear them before giving any certificate. The employer, if he finds that the terms and conditions he has proposed are perfectly in accord with the provisions of this Act and the certifying officer does not issue to him a certificate, he has the right also to go to an appellate court and get the decision of the certifying officer reversed.
I do not think it necessary for me to take the time of the House, especially when we are so short of it, to dilate upon the different clauses in this Bill. But I think it necessary for me to state why the Government thinks that this Bill is not only necessary but is also very urgent. This Bill is very integrally related to another measure which Government has in contemplation and that relates to the Health Insurance, which the Government proposes to bring forth at the next Session. The Health Bill gives an employee certain rights with regard to benefits ; it levies certain obligations upon them to make contributions to the Health Insurance Fund. These rights and obligations are very integrally related to, for instance, the wages which the employee would be drawing in different establishments. Now, disputes may arise as to the contribution that an employee is bound to pay to the fund. Disputes may arise as to what benefit an employee is entitled to draw under the insurance fund. In order that such disputes may be settled finally, Government thinks it necessary that the terms and conditions of employees should be certified and laid down in a document, so that when the dispute arises we will have before us unimpeachable evidence as to the wages and