The idea of the Finance Commission is a very restrictive one. If the idea of the Finance Commission is something like what I had at one time envisaged and tabled amendment which I did not move, namely, that in the first instance it ought to be a sort of Tax Investigating Commission, then I quite agree to all the propositions contained in the amendment moved by my honourable Friend Mr. Saksena. If it is going to be a matter in which the Finance Commission is going to be entrusted with reviewing the tax structure of this country and proposing amendments thereon, certainly Parliament must consider the report and Parliament must decide what steps the Central Government should take to implement its recommendations and how it can be incorporated either in the Constitution, or by means of a statute which will be applicable to the Central Government and also to the States. But that is not the position before us today. The position envisaged is a very limited one. In order to assure the States that they will have a fair deal the Drafting Committee has put in the body of the Constitution a provision which is not so wholly necessary to be put in the Constitution for the purpose of execution of that idea, namely, the creation of a Finance Commission. That is a limited objective. That objective I think the House will forgive my repeating it would be equally well-served by a Parliamentary Act. This article therefore has no more sanction than a Parliamentary act will have. That being so, Parliament must leave it to the executive to undertake the very onerous duty of distributing between the various provinces, on certain principles to be laid down by Parliament, the proceeds of certain taxes levied and collected by the Centre. I want the House to refer to article 253, clause (2), which says that Parliament will determine whether the whole or part of the duty will be distributed to the States, the principles on which they should be distributed, the actual quantum, etc. The application of the principle of distribution is not a matter for Parliament; it is a matter for the executive. If the executive misbehaves in any manner, it is then the obvious duty of Parliament to call the executive to order. But the House will have to recognise that while the Australian Grants Commission is a piece of administrative machinery, our Finance Commission will also only be an aid to the administrative machinery even though created by an article in the Constitution and their recommendations must be decided on by the executive, in consultation with the various Ministers of the States. Naturally the Commission is to be a permanent body or a semi-permanent body. But if Parliament is going to take upon itself the duty of adjudicating the claims of the various provinces, then instead of having a Finance Commission we may well have a sort of conference of the finance and other ministers of the States which will report to Parliament and Parliament can discuss the report and take necessary action thereon. But what will be the result? I will ask the House to remember what happened here yesterday and the day before when individual claims of provinces, absolutely without any reference to the claims of other provinces were pressed and pressed hard for any length of time. Individual members spoke for about 75 minutes on the subject. And to what purpose? The speeches had no relation to the total amount of revenue that is likely to be distributable or to the claims of provinces other than their own. It is in order to prevent Members of Parliament making claims on an individual or provincial basis and each group insisting on the rights of particular provinces that we have proposed to leave the thing in the hands of an administrative machinery, an arbitral body to decide. The executive can accept their recommendations if they are feasible and desirable.
