Vol. 13 · pages 1071–1075

1039DRAFT CONSTITUTION ABOLITION OF PRIVY COUNCIL JURISDICTION BILL *Mr. President : The first item is the Bill. Dr. Ambedkar. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I move : “That the Bill to abolish the jurisdiction of His Majesty in Council in respect of Indian appeals and petitions introduced on the 14th September 1949, be taken into consideration by the Assembly.” I would like to say just one or two words and inform the House as to why this Bill has become a necessity and what the Bill proposed to do in substance. The necessity for the Bill arises because of two circumstances. One is the provision contained in clause (3) of the proposed Article 308. This article 308 is to be found in the midst of what are called transitional provisions. Clause (3) of article 308 provides that : “On and from the date of commencement of this Constitution the jurisdiction of His Majesty in Council to entertain and dispose of appeals and petitions from or in respect of any decree or order of any court within the territory of India, including the jurisdiction in respect of criminal matters exercisable by His Majesty by virtue of His Majesty’s prerogative, shall cease, and all appeals and other proceedings pending before His Majesty in Council on the said date shall be transferred to and disposed of, by the Supreme Court,” which means that on the date on which the Constitution comes into operation, the jurisdiction of the Privy Council will completely vanish. The second circumstance which has necessitated the Bill is that it is proposed that this Constitution should come into operation sometime about the 26th January 1950. The effect of these two circumstances is that the Privy Council will have no jurisdiction to entertain any appeal or petition after the 26th January 1950, assuming that that becomes the date of the commencement of the Constitution. But what is more important is this that the Privy Council will not even have jurisdiction to deal with and *CAD, Vol. IX, 17th September 1949, pp. 1589-1590.

1040 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES dispose of appeals and petitions which may be pending before it on the 26th January, 1950. Now taking stock of the situation as it will be on the 26th January 1950 the position is this. There are at present seventy civil appeals and ten criminal appeals pending before the Privy Council. The Calendar of cases which is prepared for the next sitting of the Privy Council has set down twenty appeals for hearing and disposal. It is also a fact that that is probably the only sitting which the Privy Council will hold for the purposes of disposing of the Indian appeals before the date on which the Constitution comes into operation. According to the information which we have, this list of cases which is prepared for hearing at the next session of the Privy Council contains about twenty appeals, which means that on the 26th January, 1950, sixty appeals will remain pending undisposed of; and the question really that we are called upon to consider is this. What is to be done with regard to these sixty appeals which are likely to remain pending before the Privy Council on the 26th January, 1950? There are, of course, two ways of dealing with this matter. One way was to continue the jurisdiction of the Privy Council and dispose of all the appeals that are now pending before it. That was the procedure that was adopted in the Irish Constitution by article 37 whereby it was stated that nothing in their Constitution would affect the jurisdiction of the Privy Council to deal with matters that may be pending before them on the date of the Constitution. But as I pointed out, in the proposed article 308 clause (3), we do not propose to leave any jurisdiction to the Privy Council. We propose to terminate the jurisdiction of the Privy Council on the 26th January, 1950. The only way out, therefore, is to provide that the jurisdiction of the Privy Council shall terminate, that their jurisdiction shall be conferred on the Federal Court and that they shall transfer all the cases which are pending before them on the 10th October, except the twenty cases to which I made a reference earlier to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court. This is what the Bill does. Now, Sir, coming to the specific provisions of the Bill, it will be noticed that clause 2 abolishes the jurisdiction of the Privy Council over all courts in the territory of India. Clause 3 abolishes the jurisdiction of the Privy Council over the Federal Court, and clause 5 is the converse of clauses 2 and 3, because it proposes to confer the Privy Council jurisdiction on the Federal Court. Clause 4 deals with the matters that are pending before the Privy Council. Although clause 5 confers the Privy Council’s jurisdiction on the Federal Court, clause 4 is a saving clause and saves the jurisdiction of the Privy Council in certain appeals and petitions which are

1041DRAFT CONSTITUTION pending before it. They may be classified under four heads : (1) Appeals and petitions in which judgement has been delivered, but Order in Council has not been made before the 10th October, (2) appeals entered in the Cause List for Michaelmas sitting which begins on the 12th October, (3) petitions which are already lodged and may be lodged before the 10th October, and (4) appeals and petitions on which judgement has been reserved by the Privy Council although the hearing has been completed. In clause 6, all those matters which do not come under clause 4 stand automatically transferred to the Federal Court even though they may be pending before the Privy Council. Clauses 7 and 8 are mere matters of construction. While curtailing the jurisdiction of Privy Council, it is felt that it is desirable to repeal and amend certain sections of the Government of India Act, 1935 which are necessary as a matter of consequence and which are also necessary to remove some of the anomalies in the Government of India Act with regard to the jurisdiction and powers of the Federal Court. As I have said, clause 3 repeals Sections 208 and 218 of the Government of India Act which deal with the Privy Council and appeals from the Federal Court, and appeals from a court outside India. Both these changes are consequential. It is proposed to amend Section 205 which deals with the appellate jurisdiction of the Federal Court, and Section 209 which deals with the form of judgement and the drawing up of decrees, 210 which deals with jurisdiction of the Federal Court over other courts and Section 214 which deals with jurisdiction of the Federal Court over courts outside India. It is proposed, therefore, by these consequential and other necessary amendments to make the jurisdiction of the Federal Court complete and independent. This measure, undoubtedly, is an interim measure, because these powers will last only upto the 26th January 1950 when the Constitution comes into operation. On the 26th January 1950, the powers of the Federal Court will be those that are set out in the Constitution. Sir, I move. ***** Clause 2 *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, it is contained in clause 3 if my friend will read it. ‘Federal Court’ is provided for in subclause (2) of clause 3. That is why the words “(other than the Federal Court)” are there in clause 2. *CAD, Vol. IX, 17th September 1949, p. 1597.

1042 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : In this list it is in clause 2 and my amendment applies to it only. Mr. President : You can leave it out for the present. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not accept the amendment. It is quite unnecessary. Shri B. Das (Orissa : General) : I beg to move : “That is sub-clause (1) of Clause 2, the words ‘or otherwise’ be deleted.” Sir, it is very humiliating to me... *The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I do not think this amendment is very necessary, because the jurisdiction of the Privy Council may be derived also from the prerogative conferred by Statute. Therefore the words ‘or otherwise’ are quite necessary. We want to put an end completely to the jurisdiction not merely arising from the prerogative but from other sources also. Mr. President : I will now put the amendments to vote. [All amendments were rejected, clause 2 was added to the Bill.] ***** Clause 3 †Shri T. T. Krishnamachari (Madras : General) : My friend’s remarks can be cut short if I explain there are really no appeals pending before the Privy Council from the Federal Court. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : There is no pending appeal. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : I heard from Dr. Ambedkar and Dr. Bakhshi Tek Chand that there is no appeal pending, but there may be other proceedings. My submission is that if there are proceedings whereby remedy is possible to be given the persons concerned should not be deprived of their rights, merely because we are doing away with the jurisdiction of the Privy Council. ***** ‡The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not think it is necessary to accept the amendment moved by my Friend. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava. As my Friend, Mr. Krishnamachari, has stated, there are really no appeals pending before the Privy Council from the Federal Court, and consequently it is quite unnecessary to make any saving as proposed by my Friend, Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava, because nobody is really adversely affected, there being no pending cases. *CAD, Vol. IX, 17th September 1949, p. 1597. †Ibid., p. 1598. ‡ Ibid., p. 1599.