DR. AMBEDKAR AND THE HINDU CODE BILL 865
be the real basis of the Civil Code. I do not want that such principles should be introduced in the Code which will not accord with the principles of the future Civil Code.
In regard to adoption I submitted then and I submit now too that the customary adoption in the Punjab is based on the Civil Code. It does not have any real significance.
Mr. Chairman : Would the hon. member like to continue his speech after lunch or finish now in another five minutes ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : I would like to continue after lunch.
The House then adjourned for Lunch till half-Past Two of the Clock.
The house re-assembled after Lunch at half-Past Two of the Clock
[M R . D EPUTY -S PEAKER in the Chair ]
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : Sir, when we adjourned I was speaking on the provisions of adoption contained in this Code. I was submitting that in view of the fact that many Members of the House desired it there should be a Civil Code instead of a Hindu Code, I was submitting that certain provisions relating to adoption under the Hindu Law have been modified by custom. The present position is that this old system of adoption has to a very great extent been modified and now many notions of a character, not strictly religious, have crept into the very idea of adoption. The old idea that by adoption an adopted person becomes the son of a person adopting, has to an extent faded away. In the Punjab, so far as adoption is concerned, according to custom any person can be adopted without any ceremonies. It is in the nature of the old Roman nominees system that an heir is appointed in the Punjab for carrying on the name of the family so that a person older than oneself can be appointed an heir and so such ceremonies are required as are required under the Hindu system of adoption. Moreover, even the incidents of that relationship are a bit different from the incidents which we find in regard to the system of adoption under the Hindu Law.
Shri Tyagi : In the Punjab your son can be elder to you in age ?
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : In fact, the question which my friend is asking is really not germane. As a matter of fact, when I gave the conditions under which a person could be appointed an heir,