1084 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Dr. Ambedkar: I perhaps forgot to say that after clause 55 is reached, I shall not only introduce suitable amendments with the object of making that particular part self-contained, but I shall also move a motion that this Bill, so to say as amended, be passed independently of the other parts.
With regard to the other question, I have looked into the Rules of Procedure. There will be two courses open. One course that will be open to me would be to move that the other clauses be put and negatived, so that Government will be free to bring them together in a separate code or separate part or separate Bill and move them whenever they want. The other course permissible—subject to your ruling—under the Rules of Procedure would be to let those parts stand. I find from the rules that there is nothing to prevent this Parliament from taking out a particular part or a particular portion from a whole Bill that has been before it and to treat it as an independent Bill and pass it. That is a matter which I am prepared to leave to you and to the House. Our present intention is to stop with clause 55 and certain relevant Schedules. I think that makes the position clear.
Shri Jawaharlal Nehru : My hon. colleague has made the position quite clear. I entirely agree with him. We are for the present going to confine ourselves to Part II and complete it as a whole, apart from the rest. Then it depends on various possibilities, as to how best to deal with the rest of the Bill. But this ought to be kept separate.
May I also qualify, or amend, a statement which I made about the length of this session. I said that we would like it to end on the
6th October. As I see the debate proceeding, there is no chance of its ending on the 6th October. So, it will have to go on till we finish important work.
Shri Deshbandhu Gupta : May I seek a clarification ? The Hon. the Law Minister has made it quite clear that this will be a selfcontained Bill dealing with monogamy, marriage and divorce. If that is so and the subsequent Bills will also be self-contained Bills, then the question of Hindu Code as such does not arise. Therefore, there will be different Bills and codification will have to follow later on, if necessary. Therefore we are not proceeding with the Bill as it is. We are only proceeding with the different heads of the Bill and at the moment we are only concerned with these three things.
Shri Ramalingam Chettiar (Madras) : There are several provinces which have already got laws on monogamy and divorce.