Parliamentary Debates Parliament of India Thursday 17th May 1951 Part II - Proceedings other than Questions and Answers Official Report

The next question is whether the present Bill which has been moved in the House is sufficient to meet the situation or insufficient to meet the situation, or whether the necessities of the hour are met by the proposed changes. [...] In that law by one stroke of the pen on a certain day all the rights of the people in the land were taken away and the Government of Bihar became the sole master and proprietor of all the lands in Bihar. [...] It gave the Assembly and the Drafting Com- mittee a great deal of trouble and it was after a full consideration of the matter by the Drafting Committee and probably by the Government that the language of the draft Constitution was changed and Parliament was given power to control the freedom of speech and expression only in certain limited cases. [...] The first principle that he enunciated was that the right of property was not an abstract, absolute right but was sub- ject to the rights of the community which were greater than the rights of the individual. [...] I ask him, therefore, whether it would not be an advantage to him and to the State to allow the Supreme Court to consider the matter and then to take up the amendment of the Constitution in the light of the views expressed by the Supreme Court.