PUBLIC
RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TILLNC.O. 882
سلسلنا
9 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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The two sections as they were originally and in their amended form were as follows:-
The Governor in Executive Council may make rules for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance or other law for the time being in force relating to Excise revenue; and all such rules shall be laid as soon as conveniently may be before the Legislative Council, and if a resolution is passed within forty days of their being laid before the Legislative Council praying that any rule shall be annulled, such rule shall thenceforth be void, but without prejudice to anything done thereunder. (Omitted.)
The Governor in Executive Council may make rules for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this Ordinance or other law for the time being in force relating to Excise revenue; and all such rules shall be laid as soon as conveniently may be before the Legislative Council, and upon being con firmed, with or without modification, by a resolution of the Legislative Council, and upon such confirmation being notified in the "Government Gazette." shall have the force of law from the date of such notification, or upon such date as may be therein fixed.
Provided that in any case of urgency the Governor in Executive Council may by notification declare any such rules to be in force from a date named therein, and such rules shall thereupon come in force on such date; but if within forty days of the date upon which such rules are laid before the Legis- lative Council a resolution be passed praying that all or any of such rules be modified or annulled, such rules or rufe shall thenceforth be modified or annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to anything done thereunder. (Inserted.)
Should one pray to the Governor ?
The Honourable Mr. RAMANATHAN said: In reference to that section the Com- mittee thought that a negative kind of action on the part of the Legislative Council would not be so good as the positive action proposed by the new clause that is to be inserted in the Bill. Formerly, the idea was that after the Governor in Executive Council had made rules, the rules ought to be laid on the table of the Council, and if no objection came from the Council as regards the rules they would have the effect of law. It was suggested in Committee that that negative action would not be so good as the action now proposed, namely, that after these rules are placed on the table, some member on behalf of the Government ought to introduce a motion in confir mation of the rules made by the Governor, or, should there be a difference of opinion about the rules in question, then the subject should be thrashed out before the Council, and that the necessary amendment should be passed, and if passed, the idea of some of the members of the Committee was that there should be a prayer on the part of this Council to the Governor, praying for the amendment of the rules in question on the lines suggested by the Legislative Council. I, Sir, prefer the positive action except in regard to the proposal that the Legislative Council should pray to the Governor for the annulment of a section which it thinks should not be enacted. My objection, Sir, is on purely constitutional grounds. I appreciate all that has been done in Committee, and have no hesitation in making it known to the public that the Government has done its best to meet the wishes of the Unofficial Members of the Council who are trying to safeguard the interests of the public to the utmost extent possible. In fact, I do not think that any more liberality could have been shown by any Government than that shown already in regard to this Bill. (Applause.) I am very much satisfied with the spirit in which the Government have accepted our suggestions, and the many burning questions of the day have been mitigated, if not made completely to subside, by the generosity and forethought of Government.
In regard to this one point only, have I some difficulty; and that is entirely upon constitutional grounds; and I shall try to enunciate my difficulties.
It
is a well settled principle, Sir, in Ceylon, that there is only one body which can legislate and which can make laws and rules for the people of Ceylon, This Council, armed with such and that is the Legisative Council itself. authority, does delegate its power to the Governor in Executive Council, or to the Municipal Councils and Local Boards in regard to the making of laws where laws could not be conveniently made, owing to the complexities of the That being a constitutional principle it also situation, by the Legislative Council. follows that the same body which makes laws has the power of annulling or repealing them. It happens in this particular case that power was given to the Governor in
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Executive Council to make rules upon a variety of questions; and if these rules, after being tabled in the Legislative Council, were found to be in the opinion of the Legisla- Live Council inconsistent with its own wishes, or with any rules actually in vogue in the Colony, the proper course I submit, is for the Legislative Council itself to take charge of the rules under objection and amend it or annul it or repeal it. There can be no Joubt that the principles I have stated are correct, and I am perfectly certain that my honourable friend, the Attorney-General, who knows the constitutional laws of this Colony thoroughly, will agree with me that I have not understated or overstated the constitutional principle.
The Council's duty.
Well, then, if it is the Legislative Council that can alone make laws and unmake laws, it seems to be odd, on constitutional grounds for a body which possesses the power of making and unmaking laws, that the body which has delegated its power voluntarily to the Governor as regards the making of laws, should proceed to pray to the body to which it has delegated its own powers, it might be the Municipal Council or the Local Boards or it might be His Excellency the Governor, to pray to the body to which it has delegated its authority to repeal the laws made by virtue of the powers it delegated, while the Legislative Council itself possess the power of repealing laws.
I have not heard from my honourable friends who are pioneering this part of the Bill through the Council any substantial reason for departing from the constitutional principles that I have enunciated. It was stated when I asked if there was a prece- lent for this procedure, an Ordinance passed in 1910 was put before me containing the word" praying," and I at once pointed out it must have come per incuriam, as it were, inte the Bill, because such a thing was needless in Ceylon. But I was told at once, a thing I already knew, that in England it is the custom to introduce such a word as the word praying, where the King sitting in Privy Council has made rules, and I at once said that a distinction should be drawn between a King making rules as King, and a Governor of this Island making laws as a Governor of this Island. The King, Sir, does not dabble in politics. He does not sit in the House of Commons. He sits in the House of Lords and takes care that everything connected with politics should be left in the hands of the Speaker of the House of Commons, or the Speaker of the House of Lords, who is the Lord Chancellor. There is no analogy or paral- lelism between the state of things in Ceylon and England. The King sits apart as King and as an important part of the three estates of the realm, and as King it is no doubt necessary that when the House of Commons or the House of Lords or the Houses of Parliament desire any amendment to the rules the King has made, they should pray to the King to annul the law which the House of Parliament objects to. At the same time what is done here is this, while the Council prays to His Excellency the Governor to annul or repeal a law it does not give him an opportunity of saying no to it. It says that by simply praying it enacts that the law in question must stand annulled or repealed, apparently whatever the Governor may think of doing him-
self.
I invite the attention of honourable members to the words themselves. (Mr. Ramanathan read the words concerned, but read from a clause which had been altered.)
Sir HUGH CLIFFORD: That has been altered.
Mr. RAMANATHAN: (Surprised.) Altered?
Sir HUGH CLIFFORD showed the honourable member the revised draft, and read out the revision, saying that they would be modified as prayed for; and this was one of the alterations he mentioned verbally.
Mr. RAMANATHAN: That takes away the inconsistency I was dwelling upon. Sir HUGH CLIFFORD: That fully carried out your attention.
Mr. RAMANATHAN: Of course, if the Governor is given power to amend or repeal a law to which the Legislative Council objects, I take it that to the Governor is delegated the duty of amending or annulling.
Sir HUGH CLIFFORD: As I understand it the position is exactly as explained, but It has instead of the word 'void we have the words' modified or annulled.' exactly the same effect except that it covers modification as well as total cancellation of the rule.
Mr. RAMANATHAN: What is the good of that circumlocution? The Governor is not given the power to exercise his own judgment. What are we conserving by such circumlocution? The Governor is the President of the Council and the members