Then, Sir, I submit, part (b) seeking to introduce Rule 38-W is also mischievous. It is also badly conceived and badly drafted. What is the effect of this rule? It purports to remove a lacuna, that is the supposed absence of any power of the Vice-President to act as President within the meaning of certain rules. Sir, I find on a close examination that the powers of the Vice-President have never been defined with clarity, and it is attempted at this late stage to meet the situation. I submit, Sir, that as we have provided for a Vice-President without defining his powers, it is obvious that the Vice-President has the powers of the President or the Chairman, as the case may be. Supposing for the sake of argument that a further clarification was necessary, Rule 38-W falls far behind the requirements of the situation. I submit that it is attempted by this Rule to regularise any irregularity which may have been committed by you, Sir, in giving rulings, declaring decisions regarding the orders of the House. If for one moment we can assume that you have been acting illegally–which I hope and believe you are not–once we concede that you have not be enacting with jurisdiction, then, this power given by the proposed Rule 38-W will not legalise what has happened already. In fact, if it is supposed that you have no power to do anything beyond the mere fact of presiding, then, what will happen to the acts done by you, Sir, as the presiding officer of this august House, before the passing of the rule? I have attempted to regularise the procedure. I should have thought that such a suspicion was unnecessary; but If the suspicion has any legal basis, if you entertain any suspicions in this respect, you should have something by way of introducing a new Rule 14-A as I have suggested in my amendment, that the Vice-President shall have all the powers of the President in certain respects, with the important Explanation that this Rule shall have retrospective effect as if it was passed on the 4th of November of from the date on which you have been pleased to preside over the deliberations of this House.
