1120 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Are they relevant to this discussion ? How does the Income-tax tribunal come here ?
Shri B. Das : In this article it is stated :—
“The Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant special leave to appeal from any judgement, decree, determination, sentence or order in any cause or matter passed or made by any court or tribunal in the territory of India.”
I only wish to be assured by you that the ‘tribunal’ does not mean the ‘Income-tax tribunal’.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : You said other personnel also. So far as my memory goes, this has been amended to make provision for income-tax cases also to be taken up in the Supreme Court. I know that it has been amended.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Sir, in my humble opinion clause
(2) seems to be very wide and unnecessary. It reads as follows :
“Nothing in clause (1) of this article shall apply to any judgement, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal constituted by or under any law relating to the Armed Forces.”
So far as offences relating to the military personnel and military offences are concerned, they may be immune from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court; but there are many laws relating to the Armed Forces which countenance the judgements etc. by courts constituted under those Acts and the accused in those cases are the civil an population or military personnel accused of civil offences. In regard to, say, the Cantonment Act or in regard to the Territorial Forces Act, there are some offences in which the members of the civil population are accused and there is no reason whatsoever why such sentences should not be subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. I, therefore, think that this clause is too widely worded and needs amendment.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. President, Sir, in view of the observation made by my honourable Friend, Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena, it has become incumbent upon me to say something in relation to me proposed article moved by my honourable Friend, Mr. T. T. Krishnamachari. It is quite true that on the occasion when we considered article 112 and the amendment moved by my honourable Friend, Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena. I did say that under article 112 there would be jurisdiction in the Supreme Court to entertain an appeal against any order made by a Court-martial. Theoretically that proposition is still correct and there is no doubt about it in my mind, but what I forgot to say is this : That according to the rulings of our High Courts as well as the rulings of the British Courts including those of the Privy Council, it has been a well recognized principle that civil courts, although they have jurisdiction under the statute, will not exercise that jurisdiction in order to disturb any