Sir, that was the plan envisaged in the Government of India Act. That was the reason why a sub-clause was added to Section 126, i.e., sub-clause (2), which gives power to the Centre to give executive directions in so far as the subjects covered by Part II of the Concurrent List is concerned. Sir, I want to tell my honourable Friends in this House that in actual practice we found that so far as Part II is concerned executive directions were not adequate to achieve the objects of the legislation undertaken by the Centre. Sir, it raised a very important problem. Who is to be ultimately responsible for carrying out the objects of such legislation in a responsible government? The provincial governments are responsible to the provincial legislatures and it has happened so far that the provincial executive has often said, “Oh, the Centre has given its directions, we have no funds, we have no administrative machinery, we do not know what to do and it is unfair that it should be our business to do the actual work in these matters when somebody else lays down the law.” The present scheme in the Government of India Act is defective by reason of the fact that the field of executive responsibility blurs. We do not know where it begins and where it ends, and one of the reasons why this proviso has been put in which has been carefully worded, is that, where the Government of India want to lay the executive responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the provinces or the units, it can do so by not mentioning in their legislation that they are possessed of any executive power in regard to any particular legislation. This is a variation of the provision contemplated in Section 126 (2) and it is a wise variation in so far as the lines of demarcation are clearly laid down. The Government of India where it is possible or necessary, perhaps in the field of social legislation, in social insurance, unemployment and perhaps lab our, will take over the executive responsibility by laying down in the related Acts that the executive authority shall be that of the Government of India, Where there is no specific provision the executive responsibility will be that of the provinces and the provincial ministries cannot shirk their responsibility for carrying out the objects of the legislation. Sir, I wish that my honourable Friend, Mr. Jagjivan Ram, who has been in charge of some pieces of welfare legislation, would speak on this subject, because times without number we have found that we have had to sail very close to colourable legislation in such matters. That, Sir. I think is a very valid reason, a reason which is dictated by experience, for us to put a provision of the nature of the proviso in clause (1) of this article which I can assure you, does not detract an iota from the federal character of this Draft Constitution. After all, what is a federal constitution? It is one that lays down precisely the field where the units are supreme and another field where the Centre is supreme. Where it is not possible to demarcate this clearly it has got to be done in some other manner where the responsibility will be precisely indicated, and this proviso to article 60 makes the constitution more federal than it would otherwise be. Therefore I think the objection of my honourable Friend, Pandit Hirday Nath Kunzru, is without any point; it is without any reference to the experience of the 1935 Act which has been gained during these twelve years; it is without reference to the theory and practice of federalism; it is without reference to the experience of Australia and Canada and therefore has got to be rejected.
