lature among other bodies being presented by the delegations in London to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. The present Commission is only authorised to report and to make recommendations, and in this report we desire to include a faithful account of the opinions and aspirations prevalent in India, and of concrete proposals for constitutional reform so far as these are put before us. The British Commissioners therefore are bound to be solely responsible for the statement of the effect upon their own minds of the investigation. We shall report to the authority by which we have been constituted just as (if the Conference is set up) the Joint Committee would, we presume, be entitled to report its conclusions to the Central Legislature. It is obvious that these documents should be prepared and presented simultaneously. There are well-known constitutional means by which documents emanating from a Joint Committee and presented to the Central Legislature can be forwarded to and made available to the British Parliament. But if the Indian Joint Committee would prefer it, we would make its report an annexe to our own documents, so that both might be presented to the King-Emperor and made public at the same moment. 66 Above all, I would urge that one of the merits of the method of Joint Conference is that, besides securing due recognition of equal status, it provides the opportunity for that free exchange of views and mutual influence which are best calculated to promote the largest measure of agreement that is possible. "Our present visit is preliminary, and sittings of the Joint Free Conference, if it is set up, would not begin till October. But we make public our suggestions at once, not only in order to clear the air, but in order to show ourselves available for any conference about any matters of procedure which this statement does not adequately cover. "The Commission is, of course, bound to carry through its task in any event and discharge to the full the duty cast upon it, but we are undertaking this duty only after having made it known that the method of collaboration on honourable and equal terms is open, and that we put it forward in all sincerity and goodwill. We will only add that in making these proposals we are confident that we are correctly interpreting the intentions of the British Parliament. 'The carrying out of our proposals will require at a later date that the Council of State, the Legislative Assembly, and the local Legislative Councils should be moved to elect their representatives. who would take part in the Joint Conference, and the Commission will be glad if the Government of India will take such steps as seem appropriate for this purpose in due course." (1358-6) Wt. 24597-705 750 2/28 H. St. G. 3 Presented by the Secretary of State for India LONDON: PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE. To be purchased directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Adastral House, Kingsway, London, W.C.2; 120, George Street, Edinburgh; York Street, Manchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; Cmd. 3146 15, Donegall Square West, Belfast; or through any Bookseller. Price 1d. Net. EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM. Since the consolidation of the statutes relating to India by the Government of India Act, 1915, it has been customary, and necessary, to make all subsequent amendments in the law relating to the government of India by means of textual amendments of the consolidated Act. In consequence the provisions of amending Bills can rarely by themselves be made intelligible. The provisions of this Bill can be very shortly explained. Subsections (3) and (4) of section 101 of the Government of India Act are as follows: "(3) A judge of a high court must be— (a) a barrister of England or Ireland, or a member of the Faculty of Advocates in Scotland, of not less than five years' standing; or (b) a member of the Indian Civil Service of not less than ten years' standing, and having for at least three years served as, or exercised the powers of, a district judge; or (c) a person having held judicial office, not inferior to that of a subordinate judge or a judge of a small cause court, for a period of not less than five years; or (d) a person who has been a pleader of one of the high courts referred to in this Act, or of any court which is a high court within the meaning of clause (24) of section three of the Act of the Indian Legislature known as the General Clauses Act, 1897, for an aggregate period of not less than ten years: (4) Provided that not less than one-third of the judges of a high court, including the chief justice but excluding additional judges, must be such barristers or advocates as aforesaid, and that not less than one-third must be members of the Indian Civil Service." It has been held that the effect of the words in subsection (4), "including the chief justice," is to debar any person who has not the qualifications of a barrister from eligibility for the post of chief justice. Many of the ablest members of the Indian courts have not this qualification, and it has long been felt that there is no justification for any provision which prevents selection for the office of chief justice of any person who is best fitted to hold it. The effect of omitting the words including the chief justice but will, therefore, be to remove this restriction, and to enable any person qualified to be a puisne judge to be appointed chief justice. 66 The existing provision in the same subsection requiring at least one-third of the judges of a high court to be barristers has often tended to result in the necessity for selecting a barrister for a vacancy in preference to a vakil whose qualifications may be markedly superior. The addition of the words "or pleaders" after "advocates" will remove this inconvenience. Incidentally it is proposed, by the amendment to be made by paragraph (a) of clause 1 of the Bill, to place barristers on the same footing as pleaders in respect of the standing in their profession which they must have attained to be eligible for appointment to the bench of an Indian High Court. Printed under the authority of His Majesty's Stationery Office |