Constituent Assembly of India Debates

submit that a little time should be given to us and a more comprehensive Report
should be made to enable us to easily follow the subject.
Mr. President: Diwan Chaman Lal will now speak.
Shri Algu Rai Shastri (United Provinces: General) : *[Mr. President, This
amendment should be put to vote now. Much time has been devoted to it and no
further discussion Is necessary.]*
Mr. President: I have already called upon Diwan Chaman Lal to speak. After his
speech I will apply the closure.
Diwan Chaman Lal: Sir, as I listened to the debate I was surprised to find that
very able and intelligent leaders of our country were obviously under some;
misapprehension in regard to the Motion that has been moved by Shri N. Gopalaswami
Ayyangar. It struck me that they have perhaps not even read the Report before
moving the motion for adjournment of consideration.
The main proposition before the House is this; The Report has been presented to
this house in-two parts, one in the month of April and the other, in August, one, in
other words, before the announcement of 3rd June and the other after that
announcement. It has been moved that the two parts of this Report be taken into
consideration.
Now, Maulana Hasrat Mohani raised the point that it should not be taken into
consideration unless and until the final report of the Union Constitution Committee has
been placed before the House. You must realise--it is a matter of pure and simple
commonsense--that the final report of the Union Constitution Committee cannot be
presented to this House unless you tell those concerned what powers the Union
Constitution is going to have and unless and until you allocate the powers between the
Provinces and the Centre and so on. Unless and until you are sure of your own ground
as to what powers you are going to have and what powers the provinces are going to
have and what the subjects in the Concurrent List are going to be you cannot present
any final report. Therefore I submit that there is a logical fault in the very arguments
used by Maulana Hasrat Mohani.
The other speaker who supported the motion for the adjournment of consideration
of the Report is I believe a representative of the State of Cooch Behar. He is the Dew
an of that State. He is a statesman who is supposed to have the destinies of the
people of that State in his hand. He raised the extraordinary objection: You have given
us one report; you have given us a second report. We are unable to understand the
two reports. Therefore if a third report is given to us that would help. us to understand
the first two reports. (Laughter). I do submit that the pro position of Shri Gopalaswami
Ayyangar is a simple one. This House has agreed to have some sort of Federation and
all that Shri Gopalaswami Ayyangar asks us to decide is what powers this Federation is
to have. You have the right at this stage to discuss the quality and the quantity of the
powers you want. You can point out, as some have pointed out, that the Federal
authority of the Union should be confined to the three subjects enumerated. The first
report gives you details of the three subjects enumerated. The first report gives you
details of the three subjects, the powers that will vest with the Centre, the Provinces,
etc. The report goes on to say that, in their opinion, there are certain residuary
powers which may also be handed over to the Union and that there are certain other