DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 451
before the Select Committee was first called to meet. I submit that this Bill
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I would like to curtail this argument of my honourable friend by saying that it is bound to be so. The re-draft was sent one month before the meeting of the Select Committee.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : That is the point I was mentioning. I am grateful for the admission. This draft was complete before the Select Committee met. I should like to state at this stage that the House was not informed about it. The authority of the House was not taken to completely change the original Bill.
Shri Mahavir Tyagi : Is the middle one exactly the same as is appended to the report?
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : There have been some changes. The changes made by the select Committee were slight, but serious changes were made by the Department which the Select Committee never knew.
Shrimati G. Durgabai : It is the Select Committee that has introduced the changes and not the Department.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I submit that the most important thing is that they never made a detailed examination of the Departmental draft. In fact my contention is that—I would sit down if my honourable friend Shri Santhanam can quote a single example in the whole legislative history of India or in other countries for this—a Bill that has been sent to a Select Committee has been substituted by another completely re-casting the whole thing and put along with it.
The Honourable Shri K. Santhanam : I have been on many Select Committees and in many cases the orginal Bill has been completely redrafted by the Select Committee.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : That is another matter.
Mr. Chairman : May I point out to the honourable member that Mr. Speaker has given a decision that it is the original Bill that was considered by the Select Committee along with the draft given to it by the Honourable the Law Minister? In view of that decision, the honourable member may confine his remarks to the point as to how the original Bill has undergone a change in the Select Committee. All the other remarks about what happened in the Select Committee are beyond the purview of the honourable member.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : My point is that, although the Select Committee must be deemed to have considered the original Bill and