Vol. 13 · pages 1031–1035

998 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES The Honourable B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I wish my Friend Mr. Sidhva drew a proper lesson from the Railway Taxation Act. Parliament voluntarily submitted itself by passing an Act to allow the properties of the Railways to be taxed by the local authorities. Any Parliament can voluntarily submit its properties to be taxed by local authorities and there is no reason to suspect that Parliament will not volunteer to allow its other properties also to be taxed in the same manner. If the Railway Property Taxation Act is not properly carried out or if there is any lacuna, it would be open to Parliament to amend it, and I suppose it would be also open to Mr. Sidhva to go to a court of law and have the money paid if it becomes payable and due under the Railway Property Taxation Act. [Mr. Sidhva withdrew his amendment. Article 264, as modified by Dr. Ambedkar’s amendment was adopted and added to the Constitution.] ARTICLE 265 ***** *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That in article 265, for the words ‘a Union railway’, wherever the occur, the words ‘any railway’, be substituted.” This is mainly consequential upon the changes we have made in List I of Schedule VII. [The amendment was adopted. Article 265, as amended, was added to the Constitution.] NEW ARTICLE 265-A †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That after article 265, the following article be inserted:— ‘265-A. (1) Save in so far as the President may by order otherwise provide, no law of a State in force immediately before the commencement of this Constitution shall impose, or authorise the imposition of a tax in respect of any water or electricity stored, generated, consumed, distributed or sold by any authority established by any existing law or any law made by Parliament for regulating or developing any inter-State river or river-valley. Explanation.—In this clause, the expression “law in force” has the same meaning as in article 307 of this Constitution’.” In the following paragraph of the article, I wish to introduce some new words with your permission and move it with those words. “(2) The Legislature of a State may by law impose, or authorise the imposition of, any such tax as is mentioned in clause (1) of this article but no such law shall have any effect unless it has after having been *CAD, Vol. IX, 9th September 1949, p. 1160. †Ibid., p. 1161. Exemption from taxation by States in respect of water or electricity in case of certain authorities.

999DRAFT CONSTITUTION reserved for the consideration of the President, received his assent; and if any such law provides for the fixation of the rates and other incidents of such tax by means of rules or orders to be made under the law by any authority, the law shall provide for the previous consent of the President being obtained to the making of any such rule or order.” [New Article 265-A was added to the Constitution.] ARTICLE 266 *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move: “That for article 266 the following article be substituted :— ‘266. (1) The property and income of a State shall be exempt from Union Taxation. (2) Nothing in clause (1) of this article shall prevent the Union from imposing or authorising the imposition of any tax to such extent, if any, as Parliament may by law provide in respect of a trade or business of any kind carried on by, or on behalf of, the Government of a State, or any operations connected therewith, or any property used or occupied for the purposes thereof, or any income occuring or arising therefrom. (3) Nothing in clause (2) of this article shall apply to any trade or business, or to any class of trade or business, which Parliament, may, by law declare as being incidental to the ordinary functions of government’.” ***** SEVENTH SCHEDULE ARTICLE 250—(contd.) †The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That after entry 88 in List I of the Seventh Schedule, the following entry be inserted :— ‘88.A. Taxes on the sale or purchase of newspapers and on advertisements published therein’.” I also move: “That for entry 58 of List II of the Seventh Schedule, the following entries be substituted :— ‘58. Taxes on the sale or purchase of goods other than newspapers. 58-A. Taxes on advertisements other than advertisements published in newspapers.’ ” Sir, with your permission I shall move the other amendment—No. 374—to article 250 also as it is really part of this. I move: “That in clause (1) of article 250, after sub-clause (d), the following sub-clauses be added:— “(e) taxes other than stamp duties on transactions in stock-exchanges and futures market; (f) taxes on the sale or purchase of newspapers and on advertisements published therein.’ ” Exemption of the Government of States in respect of Union Taxation. *CAD, Vol. IX, 9th September 1949, p. 1161. †Ibid., pp. 1172-1173.

1000 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Shri T. T. Krishnamachari: I would like to mention that the formal permission of the House will have to be obtained to reopen article 250 which it will be necessary to do in respect of amendment No. 374. Shri R. K. Sidhva : I raise a point of order that an article which has been completed and passed by the House cannot be reopened. Mr. President: That is just the point that Mr. Krishnamachari has raised. Shri R. K. Sidhva: No, Sir. He has moved an amendment to reopen the subject I am raising a point or order that it cannot be reopened. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: That the President will decide—whether you are right or he is right. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : There is another matter to which I would like to draw your attention. In regard to the amendment to entry 88-A it is the same amendment as that of Mr. Jhunjhunwala. It has now been stolen by the Drafting Committee and is being passed on as their own. Curiously enough, Dr. Ambedkar’s amendment No. is 379 which is the section of the Indian Penal Code relating to theft. Can this sort of literary piracy be allowed? Mr. President: You can take credit for having pointed it out. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : He is quite content with that. He has not lodged a complaint of theft or robbery. Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : But theft is a cognizable offence. It is also non-compoundable. It does not depend on the complaint of any one, absence of objection will not execuse it. Mr. President: We shall deal with the entries first. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, when this matter came up last time before the House there was a lot of debate as to what was exactly intended, what the House could do and what I was prepared to accept. You were kind enough to say that the matter might be recommitted to the Drafting Committee. The Drafting Committee after consideration of the same has brought forth new proposals. The proposals are that newspapers and taxes on advertisements in newspapers should be put in List I. That is a matter to which the Drafting Committee has now agreed. The second amendment—No. 379—is merely a consequential thing because since newspapers and taxes on the sale of newspapers and advertisements therein have been brought into List I, it is necessary to exclude the taxation on newspapers under the Sales Tax Act and advertisement therein from the jurisdiction of the State Legislature. *****

1001DRAFT CONSTITUTION ENTRY 58 *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, in view of what my honourable Friend Mr. Sidhva said that I have been inconsistent in my attitude towards these entries, I should like to offer one or two observations by way of explanation. Sir, I said in the course of the debate that took place last time over this matter that the newspapers were very intimately connected with article 13 which deals with Fundamental Rights. Therefore in making any provision with regard to newspapers that is a matter which has to be borne in mind. The second thing is that so far as any regulation of fundamental rights is concerned, under article 27 of the Constitution which we have already passed we have left all matters of legislation regarding fundamental rights to Parliament and we have not left any power with the States. It therefore appeared to me and also to the Drafting Committee that in view of these consideration, namely, that newspapers were coming under fundamental rights, and all laws regarding fundamental rights were being left to Parliament, it was only a natural corollary that newspapers for purposes of taxation should also come under the authority of the Centre. A third consideration which prevailed with the Drafting Committee as well as with myself was that in view of the fact that newspapers were connected with fundamental rights, namely, the freedom of expression and thought, it was desirable that any imposition that was levied upon them should be uniform and not vary from province to province. Such uniformity can be obtained only if the matter was left to Parliament to make laws. There are the three considerations which prevailed with me and prevailed with the Drafting Committee in the view that they have taken. The only other consideration of importance was that this item was not purely an item dealing with making laws. It also dealt with lavying a tax in so far as newspapers were included in the term goods in entry 58 of List II. We therefore thought that in order not to deprive the provinces of such revenue as they might be able to make by imposing a levy upon newspapers under the Sales Tax Act, the proper thing to do was to include the sales tax on newspapers in article 250 which includes many other items and provides that if any taxation was levied upon them, the proceeds shall be distributed among the various provinces. Therefore, the only question for consideration that arises is whether by making this transfer from List II to List I, we are injuring so to say the finances of the provinces. My answer is that we are not doing any injury *CAD, Vol. IX, 9th September 1949, p. 1182-1183.

1002 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES to the provinces because if the House would agree to carry my amendment No. 374, the provinces will get such portion of any tax on the sale of newspapers as they may have raised and now receive, under the amendment No. 374. In making these proposals, we have taken into consideration as I said the general proposition that newspapers having been connected, with fundamental rights, ought to come under the jurisdiction of the Centre, and that any financial gain which the provinces would have got should not be lost sight of. Both these considerations have prevailed with the Drafting Committee in making these changes. I submit, notwithstanding the declarations of my honourable Friend Mr. Sidhva which I can understand, because he is smarting under a great injury which he suffered in another place, I say that there can be no objection to the entries that we have proposed. Shri R. K. Sidhva : Sir, I take exception to Dr. Ambedkar’s remarks when he said that I am smarting under some injury. I shall pay him in his own coins unless you ask him to withdraw those remarks. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I am quite prepared to withdraw them, Sir. But, I know it very well. Mr. President : That settles the matter. [The original amendment of Dr. Ambedkar, as shown above, was adopted and other amendments were rejected. Entries 58 and 58-A, as amended, were added to the State List of the Seventh Schedule.] ARTICLE 250 *Shri T. T. Krishnamachari : Dr. Ambedkar has already moved it. It is only a formal matter and it can be put to vote. Mr. President : Does any one wish to say anything about amendment No. 374 moved by Dr. Ambedkar? (No Member rose) The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : It is only a consequential thing, Sir. Mr. President : There is no amendment to this. I shall put this to vote. The question is : “That in clause (I) of article 250, after sub-clause (d), the following subclauses be added : — “(e) taxes other than stamp duties on transactions in stock-exchanges and futures market; (f) taxes on the sale or purchase of newspapers and on advertisements published therein’.” (The amendment was adopted.) *CAD, Vol. IX, 9th September 1949, p. 1184. †Ibid., pp. 1184-1185.