Sir, I support the principle of the amendment of Mr. Kamath and the amendment of Mr. Saksena, in regard to article 261, it is said the explanatory memorandum shall be, laid before Parliament and if you kindly pursue the wording of the article, you will see that the explanatory memorandum does not contain the proposal of the Finance Commission, but it refers to the action taken thereon. Action taken thereon can only mean that the President shall be the final judge of those proposals and he alone has, the discretion to accept or reject any of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission. This is very unsatisfactory. As a matter of fact, article 261 is the hope of all the provinces. At present, when we refer to article 255, as we discussed it yesterday, the need of the poor provinces will be looked into by Parliament, and in regard to article 254, it is a transitory provision. All these matters will be placed before the Finance Commission which will be appointed within two years, in the first instance, and subsequently after every five years. The proposals which the Finance Commission will make will be not of the nature of day to day affairs, but considered proposals regarding the fate of the provinces. All the progress in the provinces will depend upon the recommendations of the Finance Commission. The provinces do hope that the Finance Commission will be above board and will take their needs into consideration, so much so that we have intended under 262 (2) that Parliament shall determine the qualifications of those five members too. Therefore, my submission is that the report of the Finance Commission shall be a historic record and shall furnish the basis for those proposals which will affect the provinces vitally. The provinces, therefore, should have the say in the matter, through their representatives in Parliament. If the Cabinet or the President be the sole judges of such recommendations as the Finance Commission will make, I do not think it will inspire the confidence of the provinces. It is therefore, necessary that a matter of this importance, the Finance Commission which will come into being and which will make enquiries after every five or six years-because one year may be taken by the Commission to report-that a matter of this importance be placed before Parliament and Parliament should have the last word on it.
