DRAFT CONSTITUTION 1077
ARTICLE 307
*Shri Biswanath Das : My complaint in this regard is that neither the Law Department nor the office of the Constituent Assembly have moved an inch in this regard. I expect that they should have kept ready the adaptations and examined the laws in operation.
Mr. President: Without knowing what the Constitution is going to be!
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : (Bombay : General) : My Friend is thoroughly misinformed. He does not know what is being done.
[Article 307 as amended was added to the Constitution.]
ARTICLE 308
†Mr. President : We go to article 308. Dr. Ambedkar.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move :
“That for clause (3) of article 308 the following clause be substituted : —
‘(3) Nothing in this Constitution shall operate invalidate the exercise of jurisdiction by His Majesty in Council to dispose of appeals and petitions from, or in respect of, any judgement, decree or order of any court within the territory of India in so far as the exercise of such jurisdiction is authorised by law, and any order of His Majesty in Council made on any such appeal or petition after the commencement of this Constitution shall for all purposes have effect as if it were an order or decree made by the Supreme Court in the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred on such court by this Constitution.”
Also :
“That after clause (3) of article 308, the following new clause be inserted :—
‘ (3a) On and from the date of commencement of this Constitution the jurisdiction of the authority functioning as the Privy Council in a State for the time being specified in Part III of the First Schedule to entertain and dispose of appeals and petitions from or in respect of any judgement, decree or order of any court within that State shall cause, and all appeals and other proceedings pending before the said authority on the said date shall be transferred to, and disposed of, by the Supreme Court.”
Sir, the purpose of the first amendment is merely to continue the authority of the Privy Council to dispose of certain appeals which might be pending before it under the law which the Constituent Assembly very recently passed section 4 —in case they are not finally disposed of before the 26th January, assuming that to be the date on which this Constitution comes into existence. The important words are— “to dispose of the appeal”. There is no power to entertain an appeal. And the other important words are— “such jurisdiction authorised by law”, that is to say, references to the recent Act that was passed. The Privy Council will have no other jurisdiction, no more jurisdiction than what we have
*CAD, Vol. X, 10th October 1949, p. 65.
† Ibid., pp. 72-73