DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 925
of the items. You are going to open registration department. You are going to have special marriage courts. I have a right to know what? you are spending now and what you propose to spend hereafter. It seems to me that the expense that the State would have to incur under this head would be unimaginable. Think of a population of
33 crores. You can laugh……….
Mr. Speaker : The hon. Member may address the Chair.
Shri Biswanath Das : I am sorry, Sir. The Hon. Law Minister may laugh or others may laugh. I do not worry. But I claim that Government have the responsibility to place a working sheet before the House to show what they would have to spend to give effect to the various provisions of the Bill as used to be done by former Governments. Taking one per cent of the total population as people resorting to courts your country will be flooded with courts and registration departments.
Mr. Speaker : May I point out that we are at present discussing clause 2 of the Bill which refers to the application of the Code. The point that the hon. Member seems to make relates to the cost to be incurred in the administration of the provisions of the Code. Could that not more appropriately be taken up when we consider the question of marriages ? In the clause where it is provided that marriages shall be registered this question will arise. This is not the stage of a general discussion of the entire Bill. We are at present at the clause by clause stage. Therefore, instead of interfering with the hon. Member’s speech now and then, I would request him to reserve his remarks till we come to the clause which provides for compulsory registration of marriages.
Shri Biswanath Das : Sir, I thank you for the guidance you have given me, which I bear in mind. But I have also to make my submission in this regard. There are amendments to clause 2 to the effect that State legislatures may be given the option to give effect to the provisions of the Bill after it is passed into law. Therefore I submit the question of finance comes in prominently in various States. You have been good enough to refer to marriage. But it is not about marriage that you have to spend money……..
Mr. Speaker : I referred to marriage because the hon. Member was referring to it. It was only by way of illustration that
3 P. M. I referred to it. The State Governments would be required to give effect only in case the amendment is carried. But assuming