DRAFT CONSTITUTION 791
ARTICLE 255
*Mr. President : We go to article 255.
(Amendment No. 83 was not moved.)
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I beg to move :
“That in article 255, for the words ‘revenues of India’, wherever they occur, the words ‘Consolidated Fund of India’ be substituted.
“That in the first proviso to article 255, the words and figures ‘for the time being specified in Part I of the First Schedule’ be omitted.
“That in clause (a) of the second proviso to article 255, for the words ‘three years ‘the words ‘two years’ be substituted.”
The first two amendments are just formal………
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : On a point of Order. No. 86 is entirely new and not related to anything. It is not a formal matter. It is a serious matter.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : That is what I am trying to explain.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : It is not an amendment to an amendment. It is an amendment to the Constitution.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I move it with the permission of the Chair.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I wanted Dr. Ambedkar to be forced to take the permission of the Chair to move it.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I have taken his permission. The President can give his permission before or after moving it.
This matter refers to grants and the provision in the original article itself is that an average of three years should be paid to Assam. It was represented to us that if the average of three years is taken, the Assam Government will get very little because in the first year they did not spend anything but if we took the average of two years, they would get more. It is to meet this difficulty that the Drafting Committee has introduced the words two years instead of three years.
ARTICLE 255 (Contd.)
†The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I can at once say that I am prepared to accept the
- CAD, Vol. IX, dated 8th August 1949, pp. 264-65.
† Ibid., dated 9th August 1949, pp. 293-94.