DRAFT CONSTITUTION 583
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Now, I come to the other question raised by my friend, Mr. Kunzru, in his amendment No. 1802. His suggestion is that such legislation enacted by the President under article 102 should automatically come to an end at the end of thirty days from the promulgation of the ordinance. The provision contained in the draft article is that it shall continue for six weeks after the meeting of Parliament. Now, the reason why my friend. Pandit Kunzru, has brought in his amendment is this; he says that under the provisions contained in the draft article, a much longer period might elapse than six weeks, because he thinks that the executive may take, say, a month or two for summoning Parliament. If Parliament is summoned, say in four months, then the six weeks also might be there—that would be practicable—or it might be longer if the Executive delays the summoning of the Parliament. Well, I do not know what exactly may happen, but my point is this that the fear which my Honourable friend Pandit Kunzru has is really unfounded, because we have provided in another article 69, which says that six months shall not elapse between two sessions of the Parliament, and I believe, that owing to the exigencies of parliamentary business, there will be more frequent sessions of the Parliament than Honourable Members at present are inclined to believe. Therefore, I say, having regard to article 69, having regard to the exigencies of business, having regard to the necessity of the government of the day to maintain the confidence of Parliament, I do not think that any such dilatory process will be permitted by the Executive of the day as to permit an ordinance promulgated under article 102 remain in operation for a period unduly long, and I, therefore, think that the provisions as they exist in the draft article might be permitted to remain.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Mr. President, Sir, may I ask one last question ? Is it not repugnant to our ideas or conceptions of freedom and democracy, which are, I pressume. Dr. Ambedkar’s also, not to lay down the maximum life of an ordinance in this article ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : My own feeling is this that a concrete reason for the sentiment of hostility which has been expressed by my honourable friend, Mr. Kamath as well as my honourable friend Mr. Kunzru, really arises by the unfortunate heading of chapter “ Legislative powers of the President ”. It ought to be “ Power to legislate when Parliament is not in session”. I think if that sort of