90 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri Kamath : Oh, the Law Minister has come.
I am glad that my hon. friend has arrived in the nick of time. I am glad also that in the forenoon he admitted— casually, of course—that a mistake, constitutional though technical, had been committed in respect of this matter.
Dr, Ambedkar : I have not admitted any such thing at all.
Shri Kamath : He referred to the Patna High Court ruling and said that Mr. Tyagi and myself are taking a stand upon that ruling and that we need not go very deep into that aspect of the matter. He further went on to say that he is not interested in legal issues or legal points—he is interested in merely getting the Bill passed or rushed through, I do not remember what was the word he used. May I ask you, Sir, and the House, that if the Minister of Law is not interested in legal points who would be interested in legal points ?
Mr. Deputy Speaker : Leave that alone.
Shri Kamath : Sir, that concerns the right of the Members of this House. The Minister of Law is there and he says that he is not interested in legal points.
Dr. Ambedkar : I am interested in the merits of the case.
Shri Kamath: Sir, legal points to a Law Minister at least—if he means to be a Law Minister in truth, in fact and in earnest—must be as much a case of merit as of law.
Mr. Deputy Speaker : What is the good of misunderstanding the Hon. the Law Minister ? He says, “So far as the law is concerned, leave it to me. Please tell me facts if there are any.”
Shri Kamath : May I ask on a point of right as a Member of the House whether if a Minister takes a particular stand, a Member cannot raise a point of privilege of the House ? I do not know what the future has in store for him ; he perhaps is thinking of some other portfolio. I do not know anything about reshuffling of portfolios but there are lots of reports in the papers. But I feel that it should not have been stated in the House that a Minister of Law is not interested in legal points.