PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 469
there seems to be little reason why this legislation should be brought forth. Article 341 of the Constitution specifically mentions that:
“(1) The President may, after consultation 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 a provision has been made in article 342 with regard to the Scheduled Caste. I want to know what is the necessity of introducing such a measure when the President is empowered, vide article 341 and 342, to do so by a public Notification. If article 330 provides for any such legislation for the Scheduled Castes then that legislation has already been enacted and in case it does not provide for one, the Constitution does not indicate any necessity of enacting such a legislation. Therefore as the hon. Member speaking before me said, this Bill is superfluous. That is why I would like the Hon. Minister to pay his attention to this legal intricacy so that it may not give rise to any legal clash later on in the Supreme Court. The Hon. Minister is an eminent legal expert and as such is in a better position to study the situation, that this legislation does involve legal complexities. I hope he will throw light upon the subject and, if necessary, either amend the Bill accordingly or withdraw it after its consideration because, as Shri Deshbandhu Gupta said and the representative of Vindhya Pradesh also supported him there seems to be no such condition that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes will get representation only by enacting such a legislation. Representation will be provided to them even in the absence of any such measure. It is my duty to draw the attention of the House to the legal intricacies involved in the present Bill.
The second thing is that the Hon. Minister may take recourse to article 82 of the Constitution. It states :
“Notwithstanding anything in clause (1) of article 81, Parliament may by law provide for the representation in the House of the People of any State specified in Part C of the First Scheduled or of any territories comprised within the territory of India but not included within any State on a basis or in a manner other than that provided in that clause.”