PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 755
confined within its four corners. If we find that there is a lacuna which has to be covered, we should not proceed in a manner which may give rise to any feeling of fear or distrust in the minds of any section of the people but we should first amend the Constitution, withdraw this Bill and bring it up again in proper form.
Dr. Ambedkar: May I clear the point ? It seems to me that Dr. Mookerjee’s observations have reduced the point to very narrow limits. He concedes, if I understand him correctly, that there is the power of ceding territory under the entries to which I have referred. I believe it is difficult to imagine a case where the cession of territory will not involve the readjustment of the boundary of some province. At least I cannot imagine a case like that. Therefore, the question is one of procedure. If a law has to be made under any of the entries in List I or II of the Seventh Schedule, the ordinary procedure is the procedure of the Bill. Is that not so ? You bring in a Bill, put it through the House in its three stages : the Bill is passed and the thing is complete. With regard to the provisions coming under Article 3, you have got to follow the necessary procedure that has been laid down there. My submission is this. In deciding whether the ordinary procedure as to Bills is applicable to this case or whether the procedure laid down in Article 3 is applicable, we have to make reference to one single point and that is this : what is the main purpose of the Bill ? Is the main purpose of the Bill to readjust the boundaries of Assam or is the main purpose of the Bill to cede territory to Bhutan and make the necessary consequantial adjustments in the boundary of Assam from which this territory is taken ? In a matter of this kind where both aspects are present (and must be present in any cession because cession must necessarily have the consequence of readjustment), my submission is that the procedure to be followed must be the procedure for carrying out the main purpose of the Bill and not the subsidiary or the incidental purpose. Although this Bill has been drafted in a way as to make readjustment of boundaries appear to be the main purpose, the real purpose is to cede the territory. That being so my submission is that the procedure which is prescribed