DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 415
by the Chief Whip and a motion of this kind cannot be closed by whipping without ascertaining that there has been a full and sufficient debate.
Shri H. V. Kamath : Another point. May I request you, Sir, that the provincial MLAs who are not present here also be invited to come and participate in the discussion ?
Mr. Deputy Speaker: We will now adjourn
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : I have not yet finished, Sir, I take it I may resume after Lunch.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Yes. We will now adjourn for Lunch.
The Assembly then adjourned for Lunch till Half Past Two of the Clock,
The Assembly re-assembled after Lunch at Half Past Two of the Clock, Shri S.V. Krishnamoorthy Rao (one of the Panel of Chairmen) in the Chair.
Pandit Lakshmi Kanta Maitra : Before the House adjourned for the recess, I was trying to explain to it how this Code was bound to fail of its purpose in some of the material particulars. I explained that there was no necessity for codification as the Hindu law in all its aspects was not only well established but well understood by the people who were governed by it. I also explained that those who are to administer this Act—I mean the Judges, the judiciary of the land, including the highest—have never demanded that the law should be codified, and I also explained that the scope of the Bill was very very limited, and that besides providing for marriage, adoption and inheritance there was a water field which was left uncovered. While referring to the agricultural land, I may also point out to the House that according to the series of judicial decisions in this country, the question of land involves and embraces, a vast variety of interests and subjects, from the landlord of the topmost grade down to the tiller of the soil, the man behind the plough: and if the Provincial Governments of the different countries were to regulate the distribution of their property in different ways other than that indicated by the Central Act there was bound to be confusion worse confounded.
Then, Sir, I would like to mention that the Code has not only tried digesting the existing Hindu law within its limited sphere, but in that process of collating and digesting, a number of things have been