5. The next joint meeting of the two Committees was held on the 1st March, 1947. At this meeting we urged that H.M.G.’s declaration of the 20th February had introduced an additional element of urgency in our task and that it would be greatly to the advantage of the States no less than to the British Indian representatives in the Constituent Assembly if States’ representatives could join the Assembly during April session. We pointed out that there was nothing in the State Paper of the 16th May which operated as a bar against States doing so. We also suggested that it would be to our mutual advantage if States’ representatives could function forthwith on some of the committees set up by the Constituent Assembly. particularly the Union Powers Committee and the Advisory Committee on fundamental rights, etc. The States Negotiating Committee, however, expressed their inability to take these steps in the absence of a mandate from the General Conference of Rulers whom they promised to consult at an early date.
