The first amendment that has been moved by Mr. Pocker has been moved at a very wrong place. Not only has adequate provision been made already by the House regarding arresting of any person without there being any law under which he can be arrested but this is not the place where such an amendment should be moved because essentially I do not think that the House need fear that the President would misuse his power for the sake of arresting people without providing for it, or would promulgate an ordinance only for the sake of depriving any set of the citizens of India of their liberties. In any case the fundamental rights having already been approved I do not think there is any need for the amendment moved by Mr. Pocker. At the present moment many people have lost their liberties under the laws of detention, the Public Safety Act and other laws passed in the Provinces. Honourable Members are correct in complaining that the provisions of the Public Safety Acts operating in the provinces have been somewhat arbitrarily and oppressively used and that it has caused considerable amount of dissatisfaction. But we are not dealing with the provinces, or their powers. we are here dealing with the legislative powers of the President and we have got to take notice of the fact that at the present moment Governments have ceased to be merely policemen or judges. But now-a-days there is nothing that is outside the sphere of governmental activity. Amongst other things, Governments of the present day are shop-keepers; they are commission agents and even contractors. Every sort of duty that an ordinary citizen was performing is being performed by the State under the exigencies of the present circumstances. I therefore feel, Sir, that the powers that we are giving to the President are all the more necessary because the day to day administration has become so complex.
