Sir, I take it that the main amendment before the House under consideration is the one moved by my Honourable friend Shri Himmat Singh Maheshwari. That amendment seeks to limit the power given by this particular item to preventive detention in a province for reasons of State connected with defence and external affairs. Now the difference between this amendment and the original item has two aspects. One is that the orbit of this detention should be limited to reasons of State connected with defence and external affairs; and the second as that the federal legislature should have power to make laws for detention only within the limits of a province. Perhaps I might dispose of the second of these limitations at once. Assuming that, for reasons of state it is necessary to detain a person, is it the intention of the Honourable Mover of this amendment that, if such a person escapes to the territory of an Indian State, the Federation should not get him detained there or have him brought back to British India and detained there? No, after all, the States also form part of the territories of the Federation, and, if detention of persons for reasons of State are necessary, that detention should be possible in any part of the area of the Federation. Therefore, Sir, this does not seem to accord with the spirit in which the States, ought to accede to, the Federation.
