DRAFT CONSTITUTION 1039
ABOLITION OF PRIVY COUNCIL JURISDICTION BILL
*Mr. President : The first item is the Bill. Dr. Ambedkar.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I move :
“That the Bill to abolish the jurisdiction of His Majesty in Council in respect of Indian appeals and petitions introduced on the 14th September 1949, be taken into consideration by the Assembly.”
I would like to say just one or two words and inform the House as to why this Bill has become a necessity and what the Bill proposed to do in substance. The necessity for the Bill arises because of two circumstances. One is the provision contained in clause (3) of the proposed Article 308. This article 308 is to be found in the midst of what are called transitional provisions. Clause (3) of article 308 provides that :
“On and from the date of commencement of this Constitution the jurisdiction of His Majesty in Council to entertain and dispose of appeals and petitions from or in respect of any decree or order of any court within the territory of India, including the jurisdiction in respect of criminal matters exercisable by His Majesty by virtue of His Majesty’s prerogative, shall cease, and all appeals and other proceedings pending before His Majesty in Council on the said date shall be transferred to and disposed of, by the Supreme Court,”
which means that on the date on which the Constitution comes into operation, the jurisdiction of the Privy Council will completely vanish.
The second circumstance which has necessitated the Bill is that it is proposed that this Constitution should come into operation sometime about the 26th January 1950. The effect of these two circumstances is that the Privy Council will have no jurisdiction to entertain any appeal or petition after the 26th January 1950, assuming that that becomes the date of the commencement of the Constitution. But what is more important is this that the Privy Council will not even have jurisdiction to deal with and
*CAD, Vol. IX, 17th September 1949, pp. 1589-1590.