830 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
matter. But I think I am right in saying that while the power is left with the Congress, the President is also vested with what may be called the ad interim power to suspend the writ. My friends shake their heads. But I think if they referred to a standard authority Corwin’s book on ‘the President’, they will find that that is the position.
Pandit Hirday Nath Kunzru : Will you let me interrupt him, Sir ? I am sure he is familiar with Ogg’s Government of America. Perhaps he will regard that book as a standard book.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Yes. That is not the only book. There are one hundred books on the American Constitution. I am certainly familiar with some fifty of them.
Pandit Hirday Nath Kunzru : It is stated there that the best legal opinion is that the right to suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus vests in the Congress and that the President may exercise it only where, as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces he considers it necessary for the security of the military operations.
The Honourable Dr. R. R. Ambedkar : Yes. My submission is that in the United States while the Congress has the power, the President also, as the Executive Head of the State, has the ad interim power to suspend.
Now, in framing our Constitution, we have more or less followed the American precedent. By the amendment which I have made, Parliament has been now vested with power to deal with this matter. We also propose to give the President an ad interim power to take such action as he thinks is necessary in the matter of the constitutional guarantee.
Therefore, comparing the draft article and comparing the position as you find in the United States, there is certainly not very great difference betwen the two. Here also the President does not take action in his personal capacity. We have a further safeguard which the American Constitution does not have, namely, our President will be guided by the advice of the executive and, our executive would be subject to the authority of Parliament. Therefore, so for as the question of vesting all the power to suspend the guarantees is concerned, my submission is