Mr. President, Sir, the other day I opposed the provision regarding residences without payment of rent for Supreme Court Judges, but Dr. Ambedkar in reply pointed out that articles already passed by this House have provided residences for the Governors and the President without payment of rent, and his answer to me was that at that time I did not object to the provision of residences to the Governors and President without payment of rent. Now it seems some doubt has arisen in his mind whether those earlier articles would be open to any other interpretation, that they may be interpreted as meaning residence on payment of rent, and not without payment of rent. His argument the other day was that as regards judges, those who come from places far off from the capital should not be put to the trouble of searching for houses in Delhi. That was the point that he made out the other day. On the same argument, I would suggest to him that it would not be improper or unwise to provide the Ministers also with residences without payment of rent. After all, when you provide the supreme judiciary with rent-free residences, and the Executive Head also a similar rent-free residence, I think it would be a wise and reasonable course to provide these other dignitaries with like residence– I mean the Ministers as well. I hope the House will agree with me that there must be this constitutional provision.
