DRAFT CONSTITUTION 337
The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam : I am agreeable to the change.
The motion was adopted.
*Rai Bahadur Syamanandan Sahaya (Bihar ; General) : Sir, may I make a submission. I think that if Dr. Ambedkar moves his next amendment things will be clarified and such of us as have amendments in our names will be able to decide whether we should move them or not.
Mr. Vice-President : I agree with you fully. Dr. Ambedkar may move his amendment.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move :
“That for the existing proviso to article 3, the following proviso he substituted :
‘Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament, except on the recommendation of the President and unless—
(a) where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the boundaries or name of any State or States for the time being specified in Part I of the First Schedule, the views of the Legislature of the State, or as the case may be, of each of the States both with respect to the proposal to introduce the Bill and with respect to the provisions thereof have been ascertained by the President; and
(b) where such proposal affects the boundaries or name of any State or States for the time being specified in Part III of the First Schedule, the previous consent of the State, or as the case may be, of each of the States to the proposal has been obtained.’.”
Mr. Vice-President, if one were to compare the amended proviso with the original proviso as it was set out in the Draft Constitution, the members will see that the new amendment introduces two changes. One is this : in original draft the power to introduce the Bill was given exclusively to the Government of India. No private Member of Parliament had the power, under the original draft, to propose any legislation of this sort. Attention of the Drafting Committee was drawn to the fact that this was a somewhat severe and unnecessary curtailment of the right of the members of Parliament to move any motion they liked and in which they felt concerned. Consequently we deleted this provision giving the power exclusively to the Government of India, and gave it to the President and stated that any such Bill whether it was brought by the Government of India or by any private Member should have the recommendation of the President. That is one change.
The second change is this : under the original Article 3, the power of the Government of India to introduce legislation was restricted by two conditions which are mentioned in (a) (i) and (ii). The conditions were that there must be, before the initiation of any action, representation
- CAD. (Official Report), Vol. VII, 17th November 1948. pp. 439-40.