Sir, the previous speaker evidently has taken this Section from the Government of India Act and misread it for some other clause coming later. There are two provisions there in the Government of India Act of 1935, which empower the Governor-General to promulgate ordinances. Firstly during the recess or interval between two sessions of the Legislature he does so, on the advice of the Ministers and the Ministers take the responsibility for the same. He can do so also in his individual judgment. That means he can in certain circumstances over-ride the decision of the Ministers but he has however to consult them. The other occasion in which he can promulgate on ordinance in the discharge of his responsibilities specially imposed on him for the maintenance of law and order is in a grave emergency. The life of such an ordinance is only six months, and it can not be renewed except with the previous consent of His Majesty. My Honourable friend evidently is mistaking the later provision for the previous one. The previous one is during the recess, when a session of the Assembly is not there and it is not possible to convene a meeting of the Assembly to have an Act and in the place of an Act an ordinance is promulgated. My Honourable friend thinks that the President does it in his discretion. It is not stated in the draft that the President can promulgate an ordinance in his discretion. Then it means that the President promulgates an ordinance on the advice of his ministers. In further means this: that the ministers are responsible for this ordinance and the President is only something like a rubber-stamp giving effect, under his signature, to what the minister wants. The minister is responsible to the legislature. The question of the President not being elected by adult suffrage does not come in, because the ministers who take the responsibility for promulgating the ordinance, can be turned out of office. These objections would not hold good because, we are not giving any autocratic power to the President and the President of his own motion has absolutely no right to promulgate these ordinances. In the Statement of Objects and Reasons i.e.; in the small note appended to this clause in the Provincial Constitution itself, an instance is given that Lord Reading had promulgated an ordinance relating to Customs. It was absolutely necessary then. Many such occasions will arise and we cannot stultify ourselves by denying this power to the Government. It is said that there can be no objection if in six months’ time session of the Assembly could be convened. Soon after an Assembly session, the ministers are not likely to invoke the special power because if they had already a proposal in view they would have got an Act passed in the Session of the Assembly. If the emergency arises after the conclusion of the Assembly, they would invoke this power and six months thereafter, another session of the Assembly will normally come in. There need be no statutory provision that within six months after the ordinance comes into being or is promulgated, there must necessarily be a session of the Assembly. There will be many cases where for very small matters, which do not involve any principle, an ordinance has to be promulgated. Such matters need not necessiate invoking a session of the Assembly. Therefore, I submit there is no substance in the amendments proposed nor in the opposition to the clause as a whole by Mr. Shibban Lal Saksena.
