DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 471
Mr. Speaker : The honourable Member may proceed with his argument.
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I substantially agree that my point of view is that. But it is something more too. In fact, it is my purpose to show that if the honourable the Minister of Law, who is responsible for the Departmental Bill, and the Members of the Select Committee were not precisely aware of the substantial changes made in the Departmental Bill, can it be said that legally and also in fact they have substantially considered both ? They technically considered both, but did they as a matter of fact adequately consider them ? The question no longer arises as a matter of law on account of your ruling, the justice of which I respectfully accept. But the point I am stressing is that though they considered both, they were faced with the obvious difficulty that there was a Bill presented to them which was said to be a mere redraft of the original Bill and a re-arrangement of things of the clauses, with the express guarantee that no substantial changes had been made and yet in fact substantial changes had been made. My point is that though technically the Select Committee considered both the original Bill and the Departmental Bill, they did not and could not, as a matter of fact, give sufficient or adequate consideration to these undisclosed changes. My purpose is to make out a case for recommitment of the Bill to Select Committee or for circulation.
The next change made by the Departmental committee of a substantial nature is in clause 2, sub-clause (4). the change introduced here was made by the Departmental Committee. The change is absolutely new and it was not in the original Bill and is a substantial change. This was introduced by the Departmental committee in the Bill and not by the Select Committee. That is the most important point. The Departmental Bill provides:
“2(4). Notwithstanding anything contained in the Special Marriage Act of 1872 (HI of 1872) this Code shall apply to all Hindus whose marriages have been solemnised, under the provisions of that Act prior to the commencement of this Code.”
The original Bill did not contain anything like this and the original Bill left those who were married under Special Marriage Act of 1872 to be governed by that Act. That is divorce, maintenance and other provisions applying to those who were married under that Act would be governed by the provisions of the Special Marriage Act, 1872, which are entirely different. How different from the present Code is not very material. The present sub-clause however wants to make out