552 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
I hope such an elevation of the moral sentiments will some day come. But if my friend insists that rather than wait for the improvement in the morals of the people we should apply some legal remedy, there again I find that it is not quite so easy. The only remedy that one can think of is to make a law whereby we could make the conduct of a civil servant which is partial to any particular party or which is not strictly in conformity with the rules of administration, penal and subject it to some kind of rigorous sentence. It seems to me that one point in this connection has to be borne in mind and that is a civil servant could not be made liable to prosecution at the will and whim of anybody who feels himselfs wronged by the conduct of such a civil servant. It would be necessary to provide some kind of a previous sanction in order that a prosecution may be lodged against the civil servant. Whose previous sanction shall be required ? Obviously the previous sanction must be the sanction of the Government or of the President.
Prof. Ranga (Madrass) : Why not of the Election Commissioner ?
Dr. Ambedkar: Of the Election Commissioner ? Well, I have no idea and I do not want to say anything about the Election Commissioner because the officer, technically is supposed to be under me and I do not wish to say anything which would in any way derogate or depreciate from the authority of that particular officer. But let us admit that some kind of a sanction will be required before a prosecution is launched. Now I wonder whether the Government of the day, whom a particular administrator has helped, would be ready and willing to give its sanction. Therefore, if any such law was made, it would only be a paper law and would not have any effect in practice. It seems to me, therefore, that this is a matter which must be left to public morality and the sanctions of public morality.
The second point to which I wish to refer is a point raised by Mr. Venkataraman. He suggested that in this Bill voting is regarded as a right. His contention was that it should be regarded as a duty, that a citizen of this country should not