Mr. President, Sir. I should submit that I heartily desire that all the States should accede to the fullest extent possible so that they should be treated exactly as the Provinces. But for that purpose I think we should proceed in a legal and constitutional manner. I believe that the States have acceded on three broad matters Defence, Foreign Relations and Communications. Mr. Ayyangar informed the House that their Instruments of Accession consist of about 18 or 20 items on which they have acceded constitutionally; therefore, I submit that the jurisdiction of the Federation over the States would extend only to those subjects on which they have acceded. Beyond that it would not be constitutionally proper or possible to extend our authority to the States. As I have already submitted the States should fully accede, but I should also think that that should be effected through negotiations and on a voluntary basis. It is the mutual appreciation and mutual self interest and mutual dependence for the safety and welfare of India as a whole that full accession should follow. I have therefore this difficulty of accepting item No. 4 in its fullest implications. I should therefore ask the constitution experts in the House, of whom there is quite a galaxy, to consider the matter dispassionately from a constitutional point of view and give their decision. Then the alleged difficulty pointed out of a trouble brewing somewhere in an Indian State and that the Federation should have full power to deal effectively with that trouble and the Federation should therefore have sufficient power to deal With a problem like that, but I think that that would contravene the conditions upon which the States have acceded. If it is for defence Purposes or the purposes for which the States have acceded, there would be no difficulty. But, however justifiable we might feel in acting in the way suggested, It would be beyond our constitutional power, at any rate constitutional propriety, to act in that way. I should therefore ask the Honourable the Mover of the Report to consider that, and I am an, it will receive adequate and effective consideration at his hands.
