432 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
of the representation or election of Members to the House of the People, as to how many seats shall be allotted to the Scheduled Tribes and how many to the Scheduled Castes. No doubt sub-clause (2) of Article 330 gives us the formula for the reservation of the seats, that it shall be in accordance with the population of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes in that State. That is reasonable, logical and understandable. But here it is sought to specifically fix the number. Obviously, in the case of Parts A and B States this calculation is presumably left to be done by the Election Commissioner. But here the Hon. Law Minister wants to arrogate to himself or to this House this function which normally, in the case of the Part A and Part B States has been vested in the Election Commissioner. I do not grudge the arrogating to this House of this right. But I feel that this is a wrong way of legislation. Suppose five years later, the number of the Scheduled Tribes and the Scheduled Castes increases in all these Part C States it becomes very much more than their present strength and they require according to Article 330 much more than the one or two seats that you are now providing here, what will happen? They will then be entitled to more seats but the present Bill will stand in the way. Therefore, I submit that this is an ill-conceived clause which is being incorporated here, which first of all unnecessarily asks us to reserve the seats and then makes us commit ourselves to a specific number of seats.
The second thing that this Bill seeks to provide for is to specify the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes who should be taken into consideration for the purpose of determining how many reserved seats should be provided for. Here also, I must submit that ample provision is made in the Constitution itself whereby merely by a notification of the President this thing could well be done. Article 341 provides that:
“The President may, after consulation with the Governor or Rajpramukh of a state, by public notification, specify the Castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State.”
Similarly article 342 relates to a notification in respect of Scheduled Tribes. Of course, it might be said that in Part C States you have neither a Rajpramukh nor a Governor to be