DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 249
of Order, were members of the Select Committee and naturally, therefore, have no personal knowledge as to what was considered at the meetings of the Select Committee. They, therefore, relied upon some statements in the report of the Select Committee and inferred that the original Bill, as referred to the Select Committee, was not taken into consideration by them.
The question thus raised is purely a question of facts, namely, whether the Bill referred to the Select Committee, meaning thereby the various substantive provisions thereof, as distinct from the form or sequence in which they were put, were or were not considered by the Select Committee; whether the Select Committee did or did not apply their mind to the substantive provisions of the Bill as referred to them.
It is not disputed that the Select Committee had a right to add, to or to delete from or to improve upon the provisions of the Bill as referred, provided the additions, deletions or improvements, etc. suggested by the Select Committee are within the scope of the Bill I need not therefore, enter into this aspect, as no such question about the Select Committee having gone beyond the scope of the Bill is raised before me.
I may now examine, in the light of the written as well as oral evidence before me, the statement of facts as formulated by the honourable members who have raised the Point of Order.
I may shortly state the facts as to how the Bill that was introduced came to be framed. As stated in the Statement of Objects and Reasons, the Central Government, by their Resolution dated the 20th January 1944, ‘appointed a Hindu Law Committee for the purposes of formulating a Code of Hindu Law, which should be complete as far as possible.’ This was done in pursuance of ‘a growing public opinion in the country in favour of a consolidated and uniform Code dealing with the different topics of Hindu Law for all the provinces and for all sections of the Hindu Society’. It was also felt that, in view of the ‘present conditions and trends in Hindu Society’ there is a great need to alter the law so as to make it fit the new pattern, to which the Hindu society seems to be rapidly adjusting itself.’
When the motion for reference of the Bill to the Select Committee was carried on 9th April 1948, there was hardly any time for honourable members to express themselves on the substance as well as the form