576 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
reply. His amendment is No. 1656 by which he seeks the omission of the wards “ for the purposes of this Constitution ”. My submission is that those words are very essential and must be retained. The reason why I say this will be found in the provisions contained in clause (2) of article 87 and article 91. According to clause (2) of article 87, the main provision therein is that the Bill shall be passed independently by each House by its own members in separate sittings. After that has taken place, the Constitution requires under article 91 that the Bill shall be presented to the President for his assent. My Friend Mr. Kamath will realise that the provisions contained in article 88 are a deviation from the main provisions contained in clause (2) of article 87. Therefore it is necessary to state that the Bill passed in a joint sitting shall be presented to the President notwithstanding the fact that there is a deviation from the main provisions contained in clause (2) of article 87. That is why I submit that the words “ for the purposes of this Constitution” are in my judgment necessary and are in no sense redundant.
With regard to the observations that have been made by several speakers regarding the provisions contained in article 88, all I can say is, there is some amount of justification for the fear they have expressed, but as other Members have pointed out, this is not in any sense a novel provision. It is contained in various other constitutions also and therefore my suggestion to them is to allow this article to stand as it is and see what happens in course of time. If their tears come true I have no doubt that some Honourable Member will come forward hereafter to have the article amended through the procedure we have prescribed for the amendment of the Constitution.
*The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, while going over this article, I find that it requires further to be considered. I would therefore request you not to put this article to vote today.
Mr. President : There are four amendments moved to this article, and the first amendment is No. 1669 that in clause (1) of article
90, the word ‘only’ be deleted. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad wishes to emphasise the importance of that amendment. That may be taken into consideration by the Drafting Committee. The whole article is going to be reconsidered.
- CAD, Vol. VIII, 20th May 1949 p. 191.