198 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Before I proceed to the other point, I should like to say that I cannot see how this House is competent to decide that question. Surely, this is not a point of order’ A point of order relates to rules of business. We are dealing here with the competency of the House. Supposing, Sir, this House or you decide that this was ultra vires, and notwithstanding that, Parliament proceeded to make the law, and the matter went to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court decided that the Act was intra vires, what a difficult situation would arise? Or supposing we proceed to deal with the point on the belief that it was intra vires, the matter went to the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court decided that it was ultra vires, we would be creating a great difficulty for ourselves. What I would like to say is this. All this attempt to raise questions regarding competency is really an attempt to convert this Parliament into a court. It is not a court. It is much better that justiciable matters had better be left to the Supreme Court to decide and we proceed on our understanding that whatever we are doing is within the competence of Parliament. Therefore, my submission is that this is not a point of order at all and should not be treated as such.
Then, I come to the other question whether Parliament should delegate. That is a matter which is entirely within the competence of this House : entirely, I
3-00 P.M. make no reservation whatsoever. If in certain circumstances Parliament thinks that it should not delegate, well, Parliament should insist that it will not delegate, and that the matter shall be dealt with by Parliament itself. In certain circumstances, such as an emergency and so on, when Parliament cannot meet, and when executive action must be speedy, Parliament will, no doubt, consider it, and it may be that circumstances are such that a certain amount of delegation may be permitted. Therefore, this Bill has to be considered from this point of view. The second question is whether we should or we should not delegate. My friend Mr. Tyagi referred to Campion and referred to the opinion given by Mr. Campion on the question of taxation. I have no doubt in my mind that that is the correct attitude which Parliament should adopt in the matter of taxation. The power to tax is