Vol. 13 · pages 791–795

758 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES may have to he considered, and I can say at this stage that when such areas are brought into existence, and the Drafting Committee is called upon to make some provisions with regard to their representation, then the whole matter might be examined and a fresh article, something after article 67, say article 67-A, might be incorporated. Beyond that, I cannot at this stage, say anything more. Mr. President : I will put the amendment to vote now. [Article 213, as amended by Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena’s ammendment was adopted and added to the Constitution.] ARTICLE 213-A *Mr. President : Then we go to article 213-A. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That after article 213, the following new article be inserted:— ‘213 (1) Parliament may by law constitute a High Court for a State for the time being specified in Part II of the First Scheduled or declare any Court in such State to be a High Court for the purposes of this Constitution. (2) The Provisions of Chapter VII of Part VI of this Constitution shall apply in relation to every High Court referred to in clause (1) of this article as they apply in relation to a High Court referred to in article 191 of this Constitution subject to such modifications or exceptions as Parliament may by law provide. (3) Subject to the provisions of this Constitution and to any provisions of any law of the appropriate Legislature made by virtue of the powers conferred on that Legislature by or under this Constitution, every High Court exercising jurisdiction immediately before the commencement of this Constitution in relation to any State for the time being specified in Part II of the First Schedule or any area included therein shall continue to exercise such jurisdiction in relation to that State or area after such commencement. (4) Nothing in this article derogates from the power of Parliament to extend or exclude the jurisdiction of a High Court in any State for the time being specified in Part I or Part III of the First Schedule to, or from, any State for the time being specified in Part II of that Schedule or any area included within that State.” Sir, it will be remembered that when the House discussed the constitution of States in Part I, it was decided that every State should have a High Court. States in Part II are also States ; consequently the provision which applies to States in Part I, namely, that each State should have an independent High Court, must also apply to States in Part II. Unfortunately, this provision had not been made in the Draft as it stands now. Consequently it has become necessary to introduce this article 213-A in order to provide that even in States included in High Courts for states in Part II of the First Schedule. * CAD, Vol. IX, dated 2nd August 1949, p. 102.

759DRAFT CONSTITUTION Part II there shall be a High Court, or if there is a High Court that High Court shall be treated as a High Court. Provision is also made in clause (8) of this article that if there is no High Court and if it is not possible to create a High Court exclusively for any particular area included in States in Part II, it will be open for Parliament to declare that a certain other Court situated in any adjacent area may be treated as a High Court for purposes of that particular area. That is the purpose of this article. Mr. President : There is no amendment to this article. Does anyone wish to say anything on it ? Then I shall put it to vote. The question is : “That new article 213-A stand part of the Constitution.” The motion was adopted. Article 213-A. was added to the Constitution. ARTICLE 214 ***** *Mr. President : Then we will take up amendment No. 52 standing in the name of Dr. Ambedkar. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move. “That with reference to amendment No. 2728 of the List of Amendments, for article 214, the following article be substituted :— ‘214. (1) Until Parliament by law otherwise provides, the constitution, powers and functions of the Coorg Legislative Council shall be the same as they were immediately before the commencement of this Constitution. (2) The arrangements with respect to revenues collected in Coorg and expenses in respect of Coorg shall, until other provision is made in this behalf by the President by order, continue unchanged.’” There is nothing new in this article except that the two parts in this are separate while they were lumped together in the original article. (Article 214, was added to the Constitution) ***** ARTICLE 275 †Mr. President : Then we go to article 275. Amendment No. 111. Dr. Ambedkar. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I move : “That for article 275, the following article be substituted :— ‘275. (1) If the President is satisfied that a grave emergency exists whereby the security of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened, whether by war or external aggression or internal disturbance, he may, by Proclamation, make a declaration to that effect. * CAD, Vol. IX, dated 2nd August 1949, p. 103. †Ibid., pp. 103-04. Proclamation of Emergency.

760 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES (2) A Proclamation issued under clause (1) of this article (in this Constitution referred to as ‘a Proclamation of Emergency’)— (a) may be revoked by a subsequent Proclamation ; (b) shall be laid before each House of Parliament; (c) shall cease to operate at the expiration of two months unless before the expiration of that period it has been approved by resolutions of both Houses of Parliament: Provided that if any such Proclamation is issued at a time when the House of the People has been dissolved or if the dissolution of the House of the People takes place during the period of two months referred to in sub-clause (c) of this clause and the Proclamation has not been approved by a resolution passed by the House of the People before the expiration of that period, the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of thirty days from the date on which the House of the People first sits after its reconstitution unless before the expiration of that period resolutions approving the Proclamation have been passed by both Houses of Parliament. (3) A Proclamation of Emergency declaring that the security of India or of any part of the territory thereof is threatened by war or by external aggression or by internal disturbance may be made before the actual occurrence of war or of any such aggression or disturbance if the President is satisfied that there is imminent danger thereof.” This article is virtually the old article 275 as it stands in the Draft Constitution. The changes which are made by this amendment are very few. The first change that is made is in clause (1). The original words were “war or domestic violence”. The present clause as amended would read as “war or external aggression, or internal disturbance.” It was thought that it was much better to use these words rather than the word “domestic violence” because it may exclude external aggression, which is not actually war, or less than war. The second change that is introduced is in sub-clause (c) of clause (2). Originally it was provided that the Proclamation shall cease to operate at the expiration of six months. It is now proposed that it should cease to operate at the expiration of two months. Six months was felt to be too long a period. The proviso is also a new one and it provides for a case where the Proclamation is issued when the House of the People is dissolved or the Proclamation is issued during the dissolution. The provision contained in the new proviso is that if the Proclamation is issued when the House has been dissolved, or between the dissolution of the old House and the election of the new House, then the new House may ratify it within thirty days. The last clause is self-explanatory and it merely provides what I think is the intention of clause (1) that even though there is not the actual

761DRAFT CONSTITUTION occurrence, if the President thinks that there is an imminent danger of it, he can act under the provisions of this article. ***** *Shri T. T. Krishnamachari : ...Therefore, I say that most of the points that have been raised against these provisions are pointless because the powers of the Parliament are preserved and all that I wanted to convey by intervening in the debate was to say that nobody will be happy that he has to put the provision in this Constitution, but at the same time we would be failing in our duty if we do not put provisions in the Constitution which will enable those people who have the control of the destinies of the country in future times to safeguard the Constitution, so that people were in this House and elsewhere will understand that these emergency provisions have got to be tolerated as a necessary evil, and without those provisions it is well nigh possible that all our efforts to frame a Constitution may ultimately be jeopardized and the Constitution might be in danger unless adequate powers are given to the executive to safeguard the Constitution. Sir, I support the amendment moved by the Honourable Dr. Ambedkar. Shri H. V. Kamath : May I tell my honourable Friend, Mr. T. T. Krishnamachari that the point T made out with reference to article 48 of the Weimer Constitution is that Hitler used those very provisions to establish his dictatorship. Mr. President : Dr. Ambedkar may like to speak. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I do not know ; so much time has been taken up in the debate. If the Members who have taken part in the debute desire that I should say something, I should be glad to do so and even then it can only be done tomorrow. Mr. President : I think that Mr. T. T. Krishnamachari has dealt with all the points that have been raised and it may not be necessary for you to reply to the points which have been raised by the Members. Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava : We do not require any other reply. Mr. President : I do not think it shows any disrespect to the Members who have expressed their views if you do not reply, but if you want to reply, I cannot certainly prevent you from doing so. Would you take much time to reply ? The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : I would take some time. I thought that no reply was necessary because Mr. T. T. Krishnamachari has replied to the points already. * CAD, Vol. IX, dated 2nd August 1949, pp. 125-26.

762 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES Prof. Shibban Lal Saksena : Let us hear him tomorrow. In any case we want to hear him. Mr. President : I am only thinking of the time. I do not think any reply is particularly called for. I will put the amendments to vote now. [All the 4 amendments were negatived and the Article 276 as moved by Dr. Ambedkar was adopted and added to the Constitution.] ARTICLE 276 ***** *Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad (West Bengal : Muslim) : May I point out that 3003 is a drafting amendment ? It merely transposes a few words from one place to another. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : If that is so, I agree. (Amendments Nos. 3004 and 3005 were not moved.) Mr. President : No. 3006 is not exactly of a drafting nature. 3006 is consequential to 3003. So, better move both. The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Sir, I beg to move : “That in article 276, the words ‘notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution’ after the word ‘then’ he deleted and the words ‘notwithstanding anything contained in this Constitution’ be inserted at the beginning of clause (a) of the same article.” I also move: “That in clause (b) of article 276, the words ‘notwithstanding that it is one which is not enumerated in the Union List’ be added at the end”. (Amendment No. 119 of Supplementary List was not moved.) Mr. President : There is no other amendment. ***** †Shri T. T. Krishnamachari (Madras : General) : Mr. President, Sir, I am afraid .if my Friend Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad will look at section 126A of the Government of India Act, he will find why Dr. Ambedkar’s amendment is necessary, because 276(b) gives executive power to the Union in times of emergency, when an emergency is declared, and these words are necessary in order to make the meaning perfectly clear. The tiling has been clarified, in terms of the language used in the Government of India Act, section 126A. If he will read the section once again, he will find that there is no objection to the inclusion of these words in this article. * CAD, Vol. IX, date 3rd August 1949, p 129 †Ibid., p. 130.