Sir, I stand to record my protest against the aspersions made by so scholarly a gentleman as Professor Shah. He finds unfortunately ghosts where there are none. He has made reference to Patronage. I would request him to show anything in the article wherein comes patronage. The appointment of a Finance Commission is a necessity. It is not peculiar to India. It is a necessity and has been accepted and adopted in India to suit the peculiar conditions of a federal structure that has been devised for her on the lines of similar other States. All that the Constitution has done is to lay down specific powers for Parliament to make laws by which a Finance Commission is to be appointed. And it has gone a little, further. It has laid down also the conditions and qualifications of persons to be appointed. May I refer you to article 260(2) in this connection, which lays down that “Parliament by law shall determine the qualifications etc. of the Finance Commission“. I would request Professor Shah not to proceed with unjustifiable suspicion. If by the appointment of any Member of any Commission you mean patronage will come in, certainly you have to stop all State activities. That will be something like burning a house in a fight against flies. I hope therefore that Professor Shah will not play the role of an unnecessary opposition in a case where there is no scope for opposition.
