DRAFT CONSTITUTION 451
consequential changes as to bring it into line with the suggestion of Prof. Shah. But at this moment, I am quite certain that it is premature and should not be considered.
Mr. Vice-President : I am now going to put the amendment to vote, amendment No. 1036, first part, standing in the name of Prof. K. T. Shah.
The motion was negatived.
Article 41 was adopted and added to the Constitution.
ARTICLE 42
*Shri Alladi Krishnaswami Ayyar (Madras : General) : Mr. VicePresident, Sir, Prof. Shah’s amendment, if it meets with the acceptance of the House, would mean that the House, for the reasons which Prof. Shah has assigned, is going back upon the decision reached by various Committees of this House as well as by the Constituent Assembly after considerable deliberation on previous occasions....
...An infant democracy cannot afford, under modern conditions, to take the risk of a perpetual cleavage, feud or conflict or threatened conflict between the Legislature and the Executive. The object of the present constitutional structure is to prevent a conflict between the Legislature and the Executive and to promote harmony between the different parts of the Governmental system. That is the main object of a Constitution. These then, are the reasons which influenced this Assembly as well as the various Committees in adopting the Cabinet system of Government in preference to the Presidential type. It is unnecessary to grow eloquent over the Cabinet system. In the terms in which Bagehot has put it, it is a hyphen between the Legislature and the Executive. In our country under modern conditions, it is necessary that there should be a close union between the Legislature and the Executive in the early stages of the democratic working of the machinery. It is for these reasons that the Union Constitution Committee and this Assembly have all adopted what may be called, the Cabinet System of Government, the Presidential system has worked splendidly in America due to historic reasons. The President no doubt certainly commands very great respect but it is not merely due to the Presidential
*CAD. Vol. VII, 10th December 1948, p. 985.