430 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Shri Sonavane (Bombay) : You will never.
Shri J. R. Kapoor: To me, the Bill appears to be an absolutely unnecessary one. I am afraid, the valuable time that will be spent in the consideration of this Bill could have been more appropriately devoted to the consideration of the many other important Bills that are pending before us. I will just explain why I say so and I hope I will be able easily to bring conviction to my hon. friend who has somewhat impatiently interrupted me. We are hard-pressed for time and I consider it not only unfair but improper that we should be called upon to indulge in this sort of luxury legislation, if I may say so.
What is it, after all, that this Bill seeks to provide? It seeks to provide, firstly, reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes on the House of the People. Secondly, it seeks to provide for specification of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. If I draw the attention of the House to Article 330 of the Constitution, it will be apparent that the Constitution itself specifically provides for reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Article 330 states :
“(1) Seats shall be reserved in the House of the People for—
( a ) the Scheduled Castes;
( b ) the Scheduled Tribes except the Scheduled Tribes in the tribal areas of Assam; and
( c ) the Scheduled Tribes in the autonomous districts of Assam.”
Para. (2) of Article 330 runs as follows :—
“(2) The number of seats reserved in any State”—
Not in a Part A State or Part B State, but in any State which obviously includes Part C States also—
“for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats allotted to that State...”
I need not read the rest. My contention is that this article
330 specifically provides that seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved in the House of the People in respect of any State. This word ‘State’ has been defined in Article 1 of the Constitution which reads thus :
“1. (1) India, that is, Bharat, shall be a Union of States.