294 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
VI
“DR. AMBEDKAR CHALLENGES GWYER AWARD
Quotes Cases to Show “Recommendation” Is Not Command
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, in a legal analysis of the Gwyer Award says :—
The award given by Sir Maurice Gwyer on the dispute between the Thakore Saheb of Rajkot and Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel over the interpretation of the word “recommend” is not only of importance to the parties to the dispute but to the general public at large.
The parties to the award being bound by the award the question whether that interpretation is right or wrong may not be of much use to them. The same cannot however be said of the public. To them the question is still full of interest. It is true that the award is not a decision of a court of law. Yet it has behind it all the authority of so great a name as that of Sir Maurice Gwyer.
Last Word With Sardar
For an intelligent appreciation of such principles it is necessary in the first place to state what the contention of the Thakore Saheb was and how it was disposed off by Sir Maurice Gwyer.
Sir Maurice Gwyer sums it up thus, “The gist of Thakore Saheb’s argument is contained in the following sentence in the written case submitted on his behalf. ‘It is obvious that the word “recommend” itself clearly indicates that it (each name) is to be considered and it was open to the Thakore Saheb to reject any of the names on the ground, for instance, that any one of the names recommended was not a suitable person, was incapable or undesirable’. This contention Sir Maurice Gwyer has not upheld.
He says, “In my opinion the true construction is that the Thakore Saheb undertakes to appoint the persons whom Mr. Vallabhbhai Patel may recommend and that he does not re-serve to himself any discretion to reject those whom he does not approve. He is no doubt entitled to criticise the recommendations and to urge reasons for reconsidering them, but, unless it can be shown that any of the