Constituent Assembly of India Debates (Proceedings)- Volume Vii
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CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY OF INDIA DEBATES (PROCEEDINGS)- VOLUME VII Thursday, the 4th November 1948 ----------------- The Constituent Assembly of India met in the Constitution Hall, New Delhi, at Eleven of the clock, Mr. President (The Honourable Dr. Rajendra Prasad) in the Chair. ----------------- PRESENTATION OF CREDENTIALS AND SIGNING THE REGISTER. The following Members presented their credentials and signed the Register: (1) Shri H. Siddaveerappa (Mysore State); (2) Mr. K. A. Mohammed (Travancore State); (3) Shri R. Sankar (Travancore State); (4) Shri Amritlal Vithaldas Thakkar [United State of Kathiawar (Saurashtra)]; (5) Shri Kaluram Virulkar [United State of Gwalior, Indore, Malwa (Madhya Bharat)]; (6) Shri Radhavallabh Vijayavargiya [United State of Gwalior, Indore Malwa (Madhya Bharat)]; (7) Shri Ram Chandra Upadhyaya (United State of Matsya); (8) Shri Raj Bahadur (United State of Matsya); (9) Thakar Krishna Singh (Residuary States); (10) Shri V. Ramaiah (Madras State); (11) Dr. Y. S. Parmar (Himachal Pradesh). ----------------- TAKING - THE PLEDGE The following Member, took the pledge. Shri Syamanandan Sahaya. ----------------- HOMAGE TO THE FATHER OF THE NATION Mr. President : Honourable Members, before we take up the items on the Order Paper, I bid you to rise in your places to pay our tribute of homage and reverence to the Father of the Nation who breathed life into our dead flesh and bones, who lifted us out of darkness of despondency and despair to the light and sunshine of hope and achievement and who led us from slavery to freedom. May his spirit continue to guide us. May his life and teaching be the torchlight to take us further on to our goal. (All the Members stood up in silence.) ----------------- CONDOLENCE ON THE DEATHS OF QUAID- E-AZAM MOHAMMED ALI JINNAH, SHRI D. P. KHAITAN AND SHRI D. S. GURUNG Mr. President : I ask you, Members, to stand in your places to pay our tribute of respect to Quaid-e- Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, who by his grim determination and stead fast devotion was able to carve out and found Pakistan and whose passing away at this moment is an irreparable loss to all. We send our heartfelt sympathies to our brethren across the frontier. (The Members stood up in silence.) Mr. President: Two Members have died since the Constituent Assembly met in its constitution - making function. They are Shri Debi Prasad Khaitan and Shri Damber Singh Gurung from Darjeeling. They represented their constituencies very faithfully and were of considerable help in our deliberations. I ask you to rise in your places to show our respect to their memory. (The Members stood up in silence.) ----------------- AMENDMENTS TO CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY RULES 5-A & 5-B Mr. President: We shall now proceed to take up the items on the Order Paper. The first item is a motion by Mr. Govinda Menon and also by Shrimati Durgabai, of which notice has been given. I would ask Shrimati Durgabai to move it. Shrimati G. Durgabai (Madras : General): Sir, I beg to move: That the provisions mentioned in the Constituent Assembly Notification No. CA/43/Ser/48-I, dated the 2nd August 1948, be made part of the Constituent Assembly Rules, as shown in the amendments below, with effect from the 2nd August, 1948: - (i) Rules 5-A and 5-B - For Rules 5-A and 5-B substitute the following Rule: - "5-A. When a vacancy occurs by reason of death, resignation or otherwise in the office of a member of the Assembly representing an Indian State or more than one Indian State specified in column 1 of the Annexure to the Schedule to these rules, the President shall notify the vacancy and make a request in writing to the authority specified in the corresponding entry in column 3 of that Annexure to proceed to fill the vacancy as soon as may reasonably be practicable by election or by nomination, as the case may be, in the case of the States specified in Part I of the said Annexure, and by election in the case of the States specified in Part II of that Annexure: Provided that in the case of the States specified in Part I of the said Annexure, where the seat was filled previously by nomination, the vacancy may be filled by election: Provided further that in making a request to fill a vacancy by election under this rule the President may also request that the election be completed within such time as may be specified by him." (ii) In Rule 51 - "(b) 'Returned candidate' means a candidate whose name has been published in the appropriate Official Gazette as a duly elected member of the Assembly and includes a candidate whose name has been reported to the President in the manner provided in paragraph 5 of the Schedule to these rules as a duly chosen representative of any Indian State or States specified in column 1 of the Annexure to that Schedule." (iii) In the Schedule - For paragraphs 3, 4, 5 and 6, substitute the following paragraphs: "3.(1) When the representation allotted to the States, individual or grouped in the Assembly, or the grouping of the States for the purpose of such representation is altered by an order made under paragraph 2, or by an amendment of the Annexure to this Schedule, the President may, by order - (a) re-assign members representing a State or States to such State or States as may be specified in the order; (b) declare the seat or seats of any member or members of the Assembly representing any State or States affected by an order under paragraph 2 or an amendment of the Annexure to this Schedule, as the case may be, to be vacant. (2) Any member who has been re-assigned to a State or States by an order made under clause (a) of sub- paragraph (1) and whose seat has not been declared vacant under clause (b) of that sub-paragraph shall as from the date of the order be deemed to be a duly chosen representative of such State or States. (3) A member whose seat is declared vacant by an order made under clause (b) of sub-paragraph (1) shall, if it is so specified in the order, continue to hold office as member of the Assembly until his successor has been duly elected and has taken his seat in the Assembly. "4. (1) Not less than fifty per cent of the total representatives of the States specified in column 1 of Part I of the Annexure to this Schedule in the Assembly shall be elected by the elected members of the legislatures of the States concerned, or where such legislatures do not exist, by the members of electoral colleges constituted in accordance with the provisions made in this behalf by the authorities specified in the corresponding entries in column 3 of that Part. (2) All vacancies in the seats in the Assembly allotted to the States specified in column 1 of Part II of the Annexure to this Schedule shall be filled by election and the representatives of such States to be chosen to fill such seats shall be elected by the elected members of the legislatures of the States concerned, or where such legislatures do not exist, by the members of electoral colleges constituted in accordance with the provisions made in this behalf by the authorities specified in the corresponding entries in column 3 of that Part. 5. On the completion of the election or nomination, as the case may be, of the representative or representatives or any State or States specified in column 1 of the Annexure to this Schedule in the Constituent Assembly, the authority mentioned in the corresponding entry in column 3 of that Annexure shall make a notification under his signature and the seal of his office stating the name or names of the person or persons so elected or nominated and cause it to be communicated to the President of the Assembly." Sir, before I commend my motion to the House for its acceptance, I wish to say a few words of explanation as to why and how these amendments to the rules have become necessary. Sir, Rules 5-A and 5-B of the Constituent Assembly Rules lay down the procedure for filling a casual vacancy in the office of a member representing an Indian State or more than one Indian State and the Schedule to the Rules prescribes the allocation of seats in the various States or groups of States and the manner of choosing the States representatives and also the method of appointing conveners for purposes of conducting election. These Rules 5-A and 5-B were based on conclusions reached by the two Negotiating Committees set up by the Chamber of Princes and also by The Constituent Assembly. Sir, since then, as it is common knowledge, many changes of a far-reaching character have taken place and these changes have taken place both in the constitutional as well as in the administrative set up of these states. For example, certain States have formed themselves into Unions and certain others have merged into neighbouring provinces and still certain others have been constituted into Centrally Administered Areas. Sir, these changes in their turn affected radically in the case of some the existing scheme of representation in the Constituent Assembly. Consequently, it became necessary to re-group these several States and to re-allocate seats among them and also change the conveners for the purpose of conducting elections and also make necessary changes in the rules of the Constituent Assembly. All these matters were considered at a meeting of the Honourable the President and of the Honourable the Minister of States and also the Rajpramukhs and the Premiers of the Union and the States concerned and also the Premiers of various provinces affected by these changes and also of the officials of the Secretariat of the Constituent Assembly and of the States Ministry; and the decisions reached at that Conference are now embodied in these provisions which are now sought to be incorporated in the Constituent Assembly Rules.