I know there are certain friends of mine who think that the vesting of powers in the Parliament as against the State itself is a fundamental right. That was what was expressed by certain friends. If that logic is extended to its conclusion, all the subjects dealt with in List I would be fundamental rights! That is not the case. The very conception of a fundamental right is that neither the Parliament, nor the State legislatures shall have power to interfere. Here, you make the Parliament sovereign. Only subject to the powers of Parliament, there shall be free trade, commerce and intercourse throughout the territories of India. I find it difficult to see what is the right which has been taken out of the province of the legislatures, either the Parliament or the State legislatures, and which has been reserved here as a fundamental right. It may be all right to say that in respect of free trade, only the Parliament shall have power. That is allocation of administrative powers or legislative powers between the Union legislature and the State legislature. Certainly that is not a fundamental right. As one of my friends pithily put it, it is a fundamental right in favour of the Parliament; it is not a right in favour of any citizen or class of citizens. In these circumstances, I wish the honourable Mover, though I find him preoccupied with other things,–I do not know whether he has followed my speech–to explain how this comes under the Chapter on Fundamental Rights, and what is the right reserved.
