254 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : With all respect to you . . .
Honourable Members : Order, order.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I would not hear anything more.
Babu Ramnarayan Singh : The previous ruling given by your…….
Mr. Deputy Speaker : I have considered all the previous rulings. I have got them here.
Shri V. S. Sarwate (Madhya Bharat): I wish also to raise one point of order.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Is it any point of order?
Shri V. S. Sarwate : Yes.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : The Honourable Member will kindly briefly state the point of order.
Shri V. S. Sarwate : I shall be very brief. My point of order is this : That for the purposes of this Bill the provisions regarding publication have not been satisfied. It is due to the Chair to see that those provisions are observed. I refer to rule No. 20 which says : “As soon as may be after a Bill has been introduced, the Bill, unless it has already been published, shall be published in the Gazette. ” There is also a provision that a report of a Select Committee has to be published with the amended Bill. My submission in this case is this : that the Bill was published originally sometime in April
1947 before the Independence day. The political set-up of India has since changed and changed for the better. What I wanted to draw your attention to is this : That the Indian States which were not a part of the then British India were not to be affected by this Bill. Subsequently some States have merged and some have acceded to the Union in all subjects in August 1948. This is subsequent to the publication. There has been a Covenant of these States as the Chair may know sometime in August 1948. The result of that Covenant is that the States would now be automatically governed by any legislation which the Centre passes either in its powers of exclusive jurisdiction or concurrent jurisdiction. I therefore submit that it is the duty of the Chair to protect and guard the rights of the people of these States concerned who are affected by any Bill. I submit that the object of this is two-fold. Such provision enjoining publication enables the constituencies or the people affected by any Bill to express their reactions, their opinions and their feelings about it. I believe this is a fundamental principle of democracy that no Bill shall be passed unless the people affected thereby are given