736 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Ministry—I should not bring in the Finance Ministry—what the Government now says is this. For non-official members of a committee, certain allowances have been fixed, as I said, so much for travelling by air, so much for travelling by train, so much for living allowances, Rs. 15 for Calcutta and Bombay and Rs. 12-8-0 elsewhere. That is the standard which the Government accepts as the standard of payment in which no profit element is involved. I believe my hon. friend has omitted to take that into account. If we are to have a mixed committee consisting partly of Members of Parliament and partly of members who are not Members of Parliament, obviously, we cannot prescribe different standards of payment. The standard of payment that we must adopt for a mixed committee of this kind is the standard which has been laid down for payment for members who are not Members of Parliament and consequently that standard becomes the ruling standard.
Shri Sondhi: I would like to make one submission, Sir. There is a Committee from the Agriculture Department, the Central Arecanut committee. The daily allowance is Rs. 12-8-0 and not Rs. 12. Are we disqualified ? There are four members here.
Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava: I have heard Dr. Ambedkar with great attention and respect, but I must very humbly point out that he is an entirely wrong way of looking at the question. Article 102 of the Constitution makes it quite clear that the President is the final authority, that he has the final power of deciding about a particular case. And, in the alternative it is Parliament which can decide whether certain offices, if held would not amount to disqualification. The Finance Ministry or the Government as such has absolutely no power whatsoever in this connection. They cannot fix any standard whatsoever. Suppose there is a committee the membership of which carries an allowance of only Rs. 10 or even Rs. 5 but still the committee may be of such importance that its membership may be considered an honur and many would like to serve on the committee, in which case it will be perfectly open to Government to exercise its patronage in appointing the members to such a committee, exactly the thing which Dr. Ambedkar and we all