582 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
the executive to do ? The executive has got a new situation arisen, which it must deal with Ex hypothesi it has not got the power to deal with that in the existing code of law. The emergency must be dealt with, and it seems to me that the only solution is to confer upon the President the power to promulgate a law which will enable the executive to deal with that particular situation because it cannot resort to the ordinary process of law because, again Ex hypothesi, the legislature is not in session. Therefore, it seems to me that fundamentally there is no objection to the provisions contained in article 102.
The point was made by my friend, Mr. Pocker, in his amendment No. 1796, whereby he urged that such an ordinance should not deprive any citizen of his fundamental right of personal liberty except on conviction after trial by a competent court of law. Now, so far as his amendment is concerned,. I think he has not read clause (3) of article
- Clause (3) of article 102 lays down that any law made by the President under the provisions of article 102 shall be subject to the same limitations as a law made by the legislature by the ordinary process. Now, any law made in the ordinary process by the legislature is made subject to the provisions contained in the Fundamental Rights articles of this Draft Constitution. That being so, any law made under the provisions of article 102 would also be automatically subject to the provisions relating to fundamental rights of citizens, and any such law therefore will not be able to over-ride those provisions and there is no need for any provision as was suggested by my friend, Mr. Pocker, in his amendment No. 1796.
The amendment suggested by my friend, Mr. Kamath, i.e., 1793, seems to me rather purposeless. Suppose one House is in session and the other is not. If a situation as I have suggested arises, then the provisions of article 102 are necessary because according to this Constitution, no law can be passed by a single House. Both Houses must participate in the legislation. Therefore the presence of one House really does not satisfy the situation at all.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Does it mean that when one House only is in session, say, the House of the People, the President will still have this power ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambekdar : Yes, the power can be exercised because the framework for passing law in the ordinary process does not exist.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Shameful, I should say.