DRAFT CONSTITUTION 887
*Shri Basanta Kumar Das (West Bengal : General) : I have an amendment No. 29.
Mr. Vice-President : I thought they were new articles. Dr. Ambedkar, would you prefer that to be moved before you speak ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Yes.
Mr. Vice-President : Mr. Das, you may move No. 29.
†The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Mr. President Sir, I think there is a certain amount of admixture made by my friends who have spoken on this entry 57A. So far as I have been able to gather, their contention is that this entry 57A should be allowed only if mere was some grant made by the Central Government to the Provinces. It seems to me quite unnecessary to mix up the two matters. The question of grants from the centre to the Provinces has been dealt with in, two separate articles— 255 and 262. Article 255 provides for grants to be made by the centre to the Provinces for assistance—
“Such sums, as Parliament may by law provide, shall he charged on the Consolidated Fund of India in each year as grants-in-aid of the Consolidated Fund of such States as Parliament may determine to be in need of assistance ...”
Therefore, the provision for supporting the States by way of financial help is already there in article 255.1 should also like to draw the attention of the Members of the House to another important article, which is article
262, which is much wider in scope. It says—
“The Union or a State may make any grants for any public purpose, notwithstanding that the purpose is not one with respect to which Parliament or the Legislature of the State, as the case may be, may make laws.”
As the House will see, it has a much wider scope. It says that although a subject may not be within List I, none-the-less, Parliament would be free to make a grant. Therefore, this question having been dealt with sepa rately, I think there is no necessity to mix it up with entry 57A.
Entry 57A merely deals with the maintenance of certain standards in certain classes of institutions, namely, institutions imparting higher education, scientific and technical institutions, institutions for research, etc. You may ask, “Why this entry ?” I shall show why it is necessary. Take for instance the B.A. Degree examination which is conducted by the different Universities in India. Now, most Provinces and the Centre, when advertising for candidates, merely say that the candidate should be a graduate of a university. Now, suppose the Madras University says that a candidate at the
*CAD, Vol. IX. 31st August 1949, p. 793.
† Ibid ., p. 796.