MEMORANDUM . . . . . . . CABINET MISSION 179
(iii) All Government land, which is cultivable and which is not occupied, shall be handed over to the commission to be held in trust for the purpose of making new settlements of the Scheduled Castes.
(iv) The Commission should be given the right to purchase new land from private owners in fulfilment of the scheme of settlement of the Scheduled Castes.
(v) The Constitution should impose an obligation upon the Central Government to grant to the Settlement Commission a minimum sum of Rupees five crores per annum to enable the Commission to carry out their duty in this behalf.
PART III
Treaty Between India And H. M. G.
- The Working Committee has given its best consideration, to the proposal of a treaty between Free India and His Majesty’s Government. The Working Committee understands that the idea behind the Treaty is to give protection to the minorities and to other interests to whom His Majesty’s Government has given pledge, even after India has become independent. The Working Committee while appreciating the intention behind the proposal of a Treaty, is unable to follow how it is possible to have such a Treaty overriding the Constitution, having regard to the fact that India is to be a free and independent country, and if the Treaty is not to override the Constitution, of what good can it be to the minorities. The Working Committee has come to the conclusion that the Scheduled Castes would prefer to have their safeguards embodied in the Consitution instead of being set out in a treaty, which has no binding force.