DRAFT CONSTITUTION 827
Therefore in my judgment there is no necessity to tie down the hands of the President to act in a particular manner in the way suggested by the amendment of my Friend Pandit Kunzru. It might be that the President on consultation with the provinces or on consultation with the Finance Commission or any other expert authority might find some other method of dealing with the proceeds of the income-tax in an emergency, and the suggestion that he might have then might prove far better than what my Friend Pandit Kunzru is suggesting. I therefore think that it would be very wrong to tie down the hands of the President to act in a particular manner and not leave him the liberty or discretion to act in many other ways that might suggest themselves to him. I suggest that it is better to leave the draft as elastic as it is proposed to be done by the Drafting Committee ; no advantage will be gained by accepting the amendment of my Friend Pandit Kunzru.
As I have said, I have made another amendment in the original draft which left the matter entirely and completely to the discretion of the President and Parliament had no say in the matter. By the new amendment I have proposed it is now possible for Parliament to consider any order that the President may make with regard to the allocation of the revenues ; and therefore if the President is doing something which is likely to be very deleterious or injurious to the interests of the provinces’, surely many representatives in Parliament who would be drawn from the provinces and who would undoubtedly not forget the interests of the provinces would be in a position to set matters right. I therefore think that the original arrangement should be maintained by virtue of the fact that it is far more elastic than what is suggested by my honourable Friend Pandit Kunzru.
[Amendment of Dr. Ambedkar was adopted and that of Pandit Kunzru was negatived. Article 277, as amended was added to the Constitution.]
ARTICLE 280
- The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move :
“That for article 280, the following article be substituted :—
‘280. (1) Where a Proclamation of Emergency is in operation, the President may by order suspension of the rights declare that the right to move any court for the enforcement of such of Suspension of the rights the rights conferred by part III of this Constitution as guaranteed by article 25 may be mentioned in the order and all proceeedings of the Constitution during pending in any court for the enforcement of the rights emergencies. so mentioned shall remain suspended for the period during which the Proclamation is in force or for such shorter period as may be specified in the Order.
- CAD, Vol. IX, dated 19th August 1949, p. 523 .