6. Having stated the general case for the continuance of the method of representation through organised Chambers, my Committee would like to place before the Constituent Assembly the claim of the Indian Merchants’ Chamber, Bombay, for being selected as a Constituency for the purpose of direct representation both in the Union Council of States and in the Upper House of the Provincial Legislature in Bombay. This Chamber was established in the year 1907 and was almost the first corporate organization representing general interests of Indian trade, commerce and industry all over India. Under the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms scheme, the Chamber was given the seat allotted for Indian commerce in Bombay in the Legislative Council. This Chamber again is the only body which enjoyed the privilege of an exclusive and continuous seat representing Indian commerce in the Central Indian Legislative Assembly. Under the 1935 Government of India Act also the Chamber was selected as the Constituency for representation of commerce both in the Central Legislature and in the Provincial Legislature. It is relevant in this connection to refer to the following observations made by the Delimitation Committee in Bombay at the time of the 1935 Reforms. They stated: “If special representation is to be given to commerce, it is, in our opinion, essential that the Associations which form these Constituencies should be well-established and of such standing and importance that they could be relied upon to send to the Assembly as their representatives men of outstanding ability and experience, whose expert knowledge would be of help to the Legislature… The Indian Merchants’ Chamber is, in our opinion, fully representative of the interests of Indian commerce generally and is best fitted to represent these interests in the Provincial Legislatures”. The representatives elected by the Chamber, both in the Indian Legislative Assembly (Central), and the Bombay Legislative Assembly, who have been on the whole men of great talents and capacity, contributed materially to the legislative work in the respective spheres. They have besides successfully voiced the sentiments and feelings of the Indian commercial community, and there has been no occasion on which the representative character of the members returned by the Chamber has in any way been challenged or questioned. The Lothian Committee on Indian Franchise, after reviewing the claims made in respect of special representation on the last occasion, observed that: “The commercial and industrial organisations now recognized for the purpose of representation in the Legislature are in our view fully capable of representing interests of industry and commerce as such”. My Committee, therefore, submit that on grounds both of its pre-eminent position as a leading and well-organized Chamber representing commercial and industrial interests and of the record of service which it has rendered through its successive representatives in the Legislatures, the claim of this Chamber for being selected as the medium for representation for a seat in the Central Upper House and for adequate number of seats in the Provincial Upper House in Bombay is justified and is in accord with the avowed object of the method of special representation so as to secure the presence in the Legislature of members with representative capacity.
