316 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
347 THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY, FEB. 26,1948
(b) Subject to the general powers of Parliament under Sub-section (a), the Legislature of the States in Part II, Schedule I, shall have the power to make laws in relation to matters coming within the following classes of subjects:
Provided, however, that any law passed by that Unit shall have effect in and for that Unit so long and as far only as it is not repugnant to any law of the Union Parliament.
(This provision is necessary, if the recommendations of the ad hoc Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces in this regard are accepted.)
“(5) The power to legislate either of the Union Parliament or the Legislature of any State shall extend to ail matters essential to the effective exercise of the legislative authority; vested in the particular legislature.
“(6) Where a law of a State is inconsistent with a law of the Union Parliament or to any existing law with respect to any of the matters enumerated in List I or (List II), the law of the Parliament or as the case may be the existing law shall prevail and the law of the State shall to the extent to repugnancy be void.”
(This follows the Australian and American provisions. Without embarking upon an examination of each section and each clause, a court may easily come to the conclusion that an Act taken as a whole is repugnant to another law).
If it is felt necessary, special provision may be inserted in regard to laws in respect of matters in the Concurrent List on the lines of Article 231(2) though I think such a provision may not be necessary in view of the overriding power of the Central Legislature.
Articles 226 and 228
- I accept the principle underlying article 226 that if any subject in the Provincial List assumes national importance or becomes one of national interest in the language of the article, it ought to be possible for the Union to encroach (if one may use that expression) upon the Provincial field and take to itself the power to legislate on any subject in the Provincial List. But the very basis of the assumption of that power is that the subject can no longer be regarded as one merely of importance for the particular State but has assumed national dimensions.