24 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
which is very much analogous to the provisions contained in clause 6 of this Bill. Section 86 of the Civil Procedure Code relates to a suit against an Indian Prince or a foreign Envoy or any such person occupying the capacity or status of a non-Indian citizen. It is provided by Section 86 of the Civil Procedure Code that no suit against an Indian Prince can proceed unless and until the party suing the Indian Prince secures the consent of the Secretary of State that he may be sued. The object underlying Section 86 is to give the Government of India an opportunity to express an opinion whether they regard the particular Prince who is sued, as entitled to the status of a sovereign Prince. If they think that he is entitled to the status of a sovereign Prince, we issue a certificate that he is a sovereign Prince, and the moment that certificate is issued the matter becomes a political matter and ceases to be justiciable in the ordinary sense and the suit falls through. There is nothing unusual in it.
My honourable Friend wants me to state the reason for this somewhat anomalous position which the law recognises not only in this country but in every other country. I could state for his information the reason why this distinction is made. Sir, supposing the Department of a State upon the assumption that a particular Prince is a sovereign Prince deals with him on that basis, and suppose that if the question of his status was left to be decided by an ordinary court of law, where evidence was brought in, and the court came to the conclusion that he was not a Ruling Prince in the sense of a Sovereign Prince, what happens ? We have in a situation like this two conflicting decisions—one decision given by the judiciary and another decision given by the State and both are irreconcilable. In such a situation the execution of a decree becomes absolutely impossible. In England, as my honourable Friend knows, there is no such thing as an Evidence Act, but there is a very well-established rule which the British Judiciary has adopted that in matters of this sort where they are likely to come into conflict with the Political Department