DRAFT CONSTITUTION 1147
country, and it would be impossible for the State to restore order quickly in an area which has become rebellious.
It is therefore necessary to make a positive statement or positive provisions to permit that notwithstanding anything contained in article 20 or article 21, any act proclaimed by the Commander-inChief as an offence against his order shall be an offence. Similarly, the procedure prescribed by him shall be procedure deemed to be established by law. I hope it will be clear that if article 34 was not in our Constitution, the administration of martial law would be quite impossible and the restoration of peace may become one of the impossibilities of the situation. I therefore submit, Sir, that article
34 is a very necessary article in order to mitigate the severity of articles 20( 1 ) and 21.
Shri H. V. Kamath : May I ask why the indemnification of persons other than public servants is visualised in this article ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Because my friend probably knows if he is a lawyer....*
Shri H. V. Kamath : I am not.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : *...that when martial law is there it is not merely the duty of the Commander-in-Chief to punish people, it is the duty of every individual citizen of the State to take the responsibility on his own shoulder and come to the help of the Commander-in-Chief. Consequently if it was found that any person who was an ordinary citizen and did not belong to the Commanderin-Chief ’s entourage, so to say, does any act, it is absolutely essential that he also ought to be indemnified because whatever act he does, he does it in the maintenance of the peace of the State and there is a no reason why a distinction should be made for a military officer and a civilian who comes to the rescue of the State to establish peace. Now, Sir, I come to article 48 which relates to cow slaughter. I need not say anything about it because the Drafting Committee has put in an agreed amendment which is No. 549 in List IV. I hope that would satisfy those who were rather dissatisfied with the new draft of article 48 as proposed by the Drafting Committee.
Then I come to article 77 which deals with rules of business. In the course of the debate on this article, some members could not understand why this article was at all necessary. Some members said that if at all this article was necessary the authority to make rules of business should be vested in the Prime Minister. Others said that if this article was at all necessary it was necessary for the purpose of the efficient transaction of
*Dots indicate interruption.