396 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : As I said in reply to my friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad, it is open for Parliament to take such action as it likes, and one of the actions which Parliament may take is to say that we shall not recognise these titles.
Shri H. V. Kamath : I want Dr. Ambedkar to accept the principle. Parliament can do what it likes later on.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Certainly it is just commonsense that if the Constitution says that no person shall accept a title, it will be an obligation upon Parliament to see that no citizen shall commit a breach of that provision.
- Mr. Vice-President (Dr. H. C. Mookherjee) : We shall try to meet the wishes of the House.
We finished our discussion on Article 12 and Dr. ambedkar gave his reply. I am sorry I cannot accommodate those Members who want to reopen it. I shall now put the different amendments to the vote one after the other.
Mr. Vice-President : The question is :
“That in clause (1) of article 12, after the word ‘title’ the words ‘not being a military or academic distinction’ he inserted. “
The motion of Shri Krishnamachari was adopted.
[Rest 4 amendments were negatived.]
Article 12, as amended, was added to the Constitution.
ARTICLE 13
† Mahboob Ali Baig Sahib Bahdur: ...Anyhow I pose this question to the Chairman of the Drafting Committee whether in these circum stances, viz., where there is in existence a provision in the Constitution itself empowering the legislature or the executive to pass an order or law abridging the rights mentioned in clause (1), the court can go into the merits or demerits of the order or law and declare a certain law invalid or a certain Act as not justified. In my view the court’s jurisdiction is ousted by clearly mentioning in the Constitution itself that the State shall have the power to make laws relating to libel, association or assembly in the interest of public order, restrictions on the exercise of ………..
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : Sir, if I might interrupt my Honourable Friend, I have understood his point
*CAD, Vol. VII. 1st December 1948, p. 711.
† Ibid., p. 735.