PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES 887
(49)
GOVERNMENT ORDER ON BANK DISPUTES
*Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay) : Mr. Chairman, I see from the speech of the Hon. the Prime Minister that it was more anxious to dispel certain charges which people are likely to make against the Government on the ground that they have shown a bias in favour of capitalists and against labour. I certainly am not one of those who are seeking to make such a charge against the Government. I may make out a case towards the end of my speech that the Government has altogether misjudged the position expressed in my judgement, has not even understood the facts which were before them.
12-00 NOON
The Prime Minister’s case—if I understood him correctly— resembled the case of a woman who had given birth to an illegitimate child and when she was questioned on this issue, she said : “Sir, it may be illegitimate, but it is a very small baby.” Well, I suppose we could separate the two issues, the fact that the decision is illegitimate and the fact that the decision probably is a small one. We are concerned only whether the decision is a just one or not.
As the time is very short, it is not possible to indulge in any preliminary obersvations before entering into the subject matter. I, therefore, propose to begin with the subject matter itself.
A certain issue raised by the Leader of the Opposition is this : Are the modifications made by the Government in the Labour Appellate Tribunal’s Award justified ? The Prime Minister legitimately said that the Government has the right to modify and I entirely agree with him that the Government should have the right to modify the Award, because, after all,
- P. D. Vol. 7A. (R. S.), 2nd September 1954, pp. 1207-16.