Mr. President, Sir, article 261 as it stands now empowers, as I understand, the President to place the recommendations of the Finance Commission together with the action taken thereon before the Parliament. This clearly shows that the Parliament will not be in a position to discuss the various recommendations that are going to be approved by the Executive and upon which action has already been taken. The amendments moved by my Friends Mr. Kamath and Shibban Lal Saksena, as I understand them, require that the Finance Commission’s recommendations should be placed before the House of Parliament before any action is taken, so that the House of Parliament may approve or disapprove or reject some of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission. Some of my Friends, for example, my honourable Friend Dr. P.S. Deshmukh, said that this article does not clothe the President with any more powers. That is true, but the Parliament will lose the opportunity of discussing and approving the recommendations if they were placed by the President after action has been taken by the executive. The whole difference between the article as it is and the amendments now put forth is that the power of discussion of the Parliament over the recommendations, before any action is taken, should not be removed. If the recommendations together with the action taken thereon by the executive are placed, the Parliament will be only in a position to approve and not to disapprove. Under these circumstances, I think that if these amendments are not accepted, the House of Parliament will lose much of its power. I therefore support the amendments and I commend that they be accepted by the House.
