314 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
345 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY, FEB. 26,1948
APPENDIX
Separate notes submitted to the Constituent Assembly by Shri Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar, Member, Drafting Committee
While I may point out that there is no difference in principle between my colleagues and myself either in regard to the distribution of legislative power between the Parliament and the Units or in regard to the Union Parliament assuming power over a subject in the Provincial (State) List when it assumes or becomes of national importance, I should like to submit the following separate note for the consideration of the Constituent Assembly in regard to the articles bearing on the above matters, i.e., Articles 217, 223(1) and 226.
Distribution of Legislative Powers. —Articles 217 and 223(1)
- The question as to the distribution of legislative power has been decided by the Constituent Assembly and it is settled that the residuary power should vest in the Centre. The only question, therefore, is how to frame the articles so as to carry out this idea. My colleagues have decided to follow the scheme in Section 100 of the Government of India Act and to have a separate article for the residuary power as also to have it as an item in the list of subjects allotted to the Union. The point of my plan is that inasmuch as it is agreed that the residuary power is to vest in the Centre (Union Parliament), the various enumerated items in the Union list are merely illustrative of the general residuary power vested in the Centre. The proper plan, therefore, is to define the powers of the States or Provincial Units in the first instance, then deal with the concurrent power and lastly deal with the power of the Centre or the Union Parliament while at the same time making out a comprehensive list of the powers vested in the Centre by way of illustration to the general power. The plan adopted in Section 100 of the Government of India Act was to some extent accounted for by the fact that there was no agreement then among political parties as regards the location of residuary power and it was left for the Governor-General to decide by which Legislature the residuary power was to be exercised in any particular place in cases not covered by any of the Lists. There is no such problem facing us now. A canvassing of the meaning and import of individual items in the Central List has become of much less importance now than under the provisions of the Government of India Act.
The repetition of “notwithstanding” in every clause of Section 100 has been the subject of prolonged and unnecessary arguments in courts.