Yes, Sir. I come to particulars. Sir, it is, now about eleven months since some of the States have merged; and because there was no such enactment, they could not be absorbed into the provinces. This Bill rights the wrong which has been there for a long time. In a short time, I will describe the nature of the wrong that was there. For these ten or eleven months, in most of the States, there has been what might be called the Administrator’s autocratic rule. The disadvantages, some of them, of the provincial Governments crept in whereas the advantages could not be had. I shall give one notable instance, that of education. Particularly in one State, as also perhaps in several others, education in the last regime was entirely free, right from the primary up to M. A. and M.Sc. After the merger, fees have been imposed. As against that the teachers’ salaries have unfortunately remained the same. Let me in a minute or two describe the nature of the Administrator’s rule in general. These Administrators, most of them in all the important places, have been members of the old I. C. S. In our school we interpreted the I. C. S. as one who is neither Indian, nor a civil servant. Today, of course, he is mostly Indian, but the other description fits him. In most of the States, Political life of whatever nature it was came to an end suddenly. In place of the old autocrat,–the old autocratic Rulers had ceased to be autocratic because some sort of constitutional rule was introduced–this new official autocrat came in. Sir, I will describe briefly the state of affairs in one State. Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code prevails permanently and there also partiality was to be found and a certain group allowed certain facilities. There have been arrests, detentions, detentions without limit, for eight or nine months. That is why. Sir, most of the members here, who love personal liberty were very anxious that the expression ‘without due process of law’ should be included in article 15. A number of papers which even indirectly criticised or attempted to criticise the Administrator have been banned. The language of the civil servant is anything but civil. He uses such expressions as, “I will shoot you; I will imprison you; I will extern you, your family and your children”. Such uncivilised bullies, unfortunately, bring discredit to the Government they represent. A certain high official was not only dismissed without powers, but he was actually served with a notice of externment. The Position of that high official is very high indeed. He is a former minister of a provincial Government; he was a member of the Constituent Assembly and so on and so forth. If I am to use parliamentary language and yet use the strongest expression, I would say, Sir that this regime is the opposite of heaven. I would request the States Ministry to enquire into the conduct of such officials. I know that such officials, in some cases, came in, had to come in, as a result of certain “pagal” ministries; but representatives of Government should not try to surpass the “pagal” ministry itself.
