DRAFT CONSTITUTION 691
ARTICLE 230
- The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move :
“That in article 230, for the words ‘for any Slate or part thereof’, the words ‘for the whole or any part of the territory of India’ be substituted.”
[The amendment was adopted without further discussion. Article 230, as amended, was added to the Constitution.]
ARTICLE 231
† The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move :
“That with reference to amendment No. 2788 of the List of amendments, in clause (2) of article 231, after the word and figure ‘Part I’ the words and figures ‘or Pari III’ be inserted.”
‡ The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I agree that Mr. Thanu Pillai’s point requires explanation. Now the explanation is this. I am sure he will agree that the rule regarding repugnancy which is mentioned in article
231 must be observed so far as future laws made by Parliament are concerned. He will see that the wording in article 231 is ‘whether passed before or alter’. Surely with regard to laws made by Parliament after the commencement of this Constitution, the rule of repugnancy must have universal application with regard to laws made both by the States in Part I and by the States mentioned in Part III. With regard to the question of repugnancy as to the laws made before the passing of this Constitution, the position is this. As I have said so often in this House, it is our desire and I am sure the desire of the House that all articles in the Constitution should be made generally applicable to all States without making any specific differentiation between States in Part I and Part III. It is no good that whenever you pass an article you should have added to that article a proviso making some kind of saving in favour of States in Part III, although there is no doubt about it that some savings will have to be made with regard to laws made by States in Part III. That is proposed to be done, as I said, in a new Part or a new Schedule where the reservation in respect of States in Part III will be enacted, so that so far as laws made before the Constitution comes into existence are concerned, they would be saved by some provision enacted in that special form or special Schedule. I should like to add to that one more point viz., that while it is proposed to make reservations in that special part in favour of Part III States, nonetheless that reservation could not be absolute because the reservations made therein, at any rate some provisions in that special part, will be governed by article 307 which gives the President the power to make adaptations. Now that adaptation will apply both to States in Part I as well as to States
*CAD, Vol. VIII, 13th June 1949, p. 813.
† Ibid ., p. 813.
‡ Ibid., pp. 814-15.