PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 479
[ M R . S PEAKER in the Chair ]
It is therefore incumbent on me to repel the suggestion which has been made in the course of this debate that this Bill is uncalled for. hon. Members have referred to article
330 on which they have built their main argument. It is quite true that article 330 refers to the reservation for the scheduled castes in the House of the People. What we are considering in this Bill is the reservation of seats in the House of the People for the scheduled castes in certain Part C States. As I said, it is therefore relevant that this article should be referred to. It seems to me that hon. Members who have relied upon article 330 seem to have altogether forgotten that the basis of representation of the scheduled castes must be the enumeration or the definition of the scheduled castes. Unless and until we knew what the scheduled castes are and what their total population is, it is absolutely impossible for anybody to make any provisions for the practical and factual representation of the Scheduled Castes. The question, therefore, is this : Is there any provision whereby it is possible for any authority except Parliament to make a list of the scheduled castes so that we might know what they are, and also their population? For that purpose, it is necessary to refer to article
- This is what article 341 says :
“(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.”
A similar provision is contained in article 342 which relates to scheduled tribes. There is a proviso contained in sub-clause
(2) of article 341 and sub-clause (2) of article 342 which prevents the President, after having once made the order, from modifying it. The power to modify the order has been expressly reserved to Parliament. It is necessary to read very carefully the words of article 341 and article 342. No doubt, the President is empowered to issue a notification; but, there is a very important condition attached to his power to issue a notification. That condition is that he can issue it only after consultation with the Governor or Rajpramukh of a State. Any