REPORT OF THE CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY FUNCTIONS COMMITTEE 35
would be perfectly within its competence to change the adaptations and to introduce any other that it may like. I therefore, submit, Sir, that there is no substance in the points that have been raised by the crities of the Committee.
One other point to which my friend Mr. Krishnamachari referred. He said that Mr. Munshi’s resolution omitted to take into account the second part of the report which dealt with the question that the President was the sole authority both on the deliberative and administrative side. He questioned why the resolution which has been framed and submitted to us by Mr. Munshi, practically accepting all the proposals of the Committee did not contain this particular provision. I should like to say that if Mr. Krishnamachari reads the report carefully, he will find that that particular part of the report is an observation on the part of the Committee and not a recommendation and therefore, I submit my friend Mr. Munshi was perfectly justified in not referring to it.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Sir, I want to ask Dr. Ambedkar certain information. First of all I want to know from him…… etc.
An Honourable Member : Is it a speech or a question ?
Mr. President: I would remind Pandit Maitra that he cannot make a speech. He has put the question and Dr. Ambedkar will answer if he chooses.
An Honourable Member : Even the question is out of order.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Why is it not permissible ? When the Honourable member replies to the debate and an Honourable member does not understand, he is perfectly within his right in asking further questions to get points cleared up.
Mr. President: You have put the question. Dr. Ambedkar will reply.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I shall be brief. The first question was whether we contemplate any change in the adaptations of the Government of India Act. My answer is that that is a matter for the House to determine what adaptations the House wants. But I want to assure my friends here that we have got the power to change the adaptations. The Government of India Act with its adaptations is not entirely binding on us in the sense that a change is not beyond our purview. If the House, on a reconsideration of the matter, finds that certain adaptations ought to be changed, it would be perfectly possible to undertake that provision.
The second question which my Honourable Friend Mr. Maitra put to me was whether the unity of administration is likely to be affected and there is likely to be a conflict in view of the fact that there may be two offices, one President presiding over the Constituent Assembly and secondly a Speaker presiding over the legislative body. What the