constituent assembly of india debates (proceedings)- volume vii

Mr. President: It seems there is nobody who wishes to speak on the motion. The mover has
accepted the amendment. I first put the amendment to vote.
The amendment was adopted.
Mr. President: The motion, as amended, is now put to vote.
The motion, as amended, was adopted.
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PROGRAMME OF BUSINESS
Mr. President : We will now go on to the next item on the agenda but before doing so, I would like
to explain to the House the procedure which I propose to follow in dealing with the Draft Constitution.
Members are aware that the Draft Constitution was prepared by a Drafting Committee which was
appointed by this House and the Draft was placed in the hands of Members nearly eight months or more
ago. Members were asked to send in any suggestions or amendments which they wished to make and a
large number of suggestions and amendments were received not only from Members but also from the
public and public bodies, provincial governments and so forth. The Drafting Committee has considered all
these suggestions and amendments and they have redrafted many of the articles in the light of the
suggestions made by either Members or the public. So we have now got not only the Draft as it was
originally prepared, but also the re-draft of a number of the Articles which the Drafting Committee had
prepared in the light of suggestions received. These have been placed in the hands of Members. What I
propose now to do is to take up each Article after we, of course, have passed this motion for
consideration and I shall take all these amendments of which notice has been given already as having
been given in time, so that Members who have already given notice of amendments need not repeat the
notice after the motion for consideration has been adopted. I will also give to Members two days more
forgiving notice of any further amendments which they wish to propose to the Articles. And then, I
propose not to accept any other amendments, unless they are of such a nature that it becomes
necessary to accept them. Of course, there will be amendments which may be consequential and those
will have to be accepted. There may also be amendments which for other reasons may be considered by
the House to be of such a nature that they should be considered; I will not burke discussion of those
amendments; I shall have them also. But ordinarily I would ask the Members to confine themselves to
the amendments of which we have already got notice and they are, I believe, about a thousand in
number. In this way we might economise time without in any way affecting our efficiency and without in
any way putting any check on free discussion of all the Articles of the proposed draft. This is what I
propose to do, of course, subject to what the House lays down. I think this is quite reasonable in view of
the fact that Members have had such a long time to consider; and that they have considered in detail the
draft is apparent from the fact that we have already got notice of about a thousand amendments, and if
by any chance any amendment has been overlooked and if any member feels its consideration to be
necessary, we shall take it, but ordinarily I will not take any further amendments after this. What I
propose is that we discuss the motion, which Dr. Ambedkar will move, for two days, that is, today and
tomorrow, when we sit both in the morning and in the afternoon and we give Saturday and Sunday for
giving notice of amendments to the members. All the amendments of which we have already received
notice and of which we shall have received notice by 5 o'clock on Sunday will be tabulated, printed and
placed in the hands of Members by Monday, and then we proceed with the discussion of the amendments
from Tuesday. That is the programme which I have outlined in my mind.
There is another thing which I might tell Members. There is a motion of which notice has been given
and there is also an amendment of which notice has been given that this House should adjourn
discussion of the Constitution altogether and a new House on adult franchise and on non-communal lines