Part D: Amendment of the Schedule

Articles 189(a) and 190(1), Draft Constitution of India 1948

Table

I-Madras

The Laccadive Islands (including Minicoy) and the Amindivi Islands.

The East Godavari Agency and so much of the Vizagapatam Agency as is not transferred to Orissa under the provisions of the Government of India (Constitution [of Orissa) Order, 1936.

II-Bombay

In the West Khandesh District: The Navalpur Petha, the Akrani Mahal and the villages belonging to the following Mehwassi Chiefs: (1) the Parvi of Kathi, (2) the Parvi of Nal, (3) the Parvi of Singpur, (4) the Walwi of Gaohali, (5) the Wassawa of Chikhli, and (6) the Parvi of Navalpur.

In the East Khandesh District: The Satpura Hills reserved forest areas.

In the Nasik District: The Kalvan Taluk and Peint Petha.

In the Thana District: The Dahanu and Shahapur, Talukas and Mokhada and Umbergaon Pethas.

III-United Provinces

The Jaunsar-Bawar Pargana of the Dehra Dun District.

The portion of the Mirzapur District south of the Kaimur range.

IV-East Punjab

Spiti and Lahaul in the Kangra District.

V-Bihar

The Ranchi and Singhbhum Districts, and the Latehar sub-division of the Palamau District of the Chota Nagpur Division.

VI-The Central Provinces and Berar

In the Chanda District, the Ahiri Zamindari in the Sironcha Tahsil and the Dhanora, Dudmala, Gewardha, Jharapara Khutgaon, Kotgal, Muramgaon, Palasgarh, Rangi, Sirsundi Sonsari, Chandala, Gilgaon, Pai-Muranda and Potegaon Zamindaris in the Garchiroli Tahsil.

The Harrai, Gorakghat, Gorpani, Batkagarh, Bardagarh, Partabgarh (Pagara).

Almod and Sonpur Jagirs of the Chhindwara District, and the portion of the Panch. marhi Jagir in the Chhindwara District.

The Mandla District.

The Pendra, Kenda, Matin, Lapha, Uprora, Chhuri and Korba Zamindaris of the Bilaspur District.

The Aundhi, Koracha, Panabaras and Ambagarh Chauk, Zamindaris of the Durg District.

The Baihar Tahsil of the Balaghat District.

The Melghat Taluk of the Amraoti District.

The Bhainsdehi Tahsil of the Betul District.

VII-Orissa

The Ganjam Agency Tracts including Khondmals.

The Koraput District.

Article 244 (1), Constitution of India 1950

PART D

Amendment of the Schedule

7. Amendment of the Schedule.—(1) Parliament may from time to time by law amend by way of addition, variation or repeal any of the provisions of this Schedule and, when the Schedule is so amended, any reference to this Schedule in this Constitution shall be construed as a reference to such Schedule as so amended.

⁠(2) No such law as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (1) of this paragraph shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.

The Fifth Schedule (Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India, 1950) of the Draft Constitution of 1948 was discussed in the Constituent Assembly on 5 September 1949. It dealt with the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in any State mentioned in Part I of the First Schedule.

The Drafting Committee Chairman began the proceedings with an amendment to the Schedule and provided detailed reasons for the changes made. First, it was no longer required for every State to have a Tribes Advisory Council. The Committee felt that States which did not have a Scheduled Area should not be obliged to form an Advisory Council—this could be left to the discretion of the President. Second, the Governor of a State would no longer be bound by the advice of the Council in determining the applicability of a law made by Parliament or State Legislature to the Scheduled Area. Third, since the scheduled areas in all States were not yet fully demarcated, the Chairman argued that it would be better to leave it to the President to identify these areas rather than have a separate part in the Draft Schedule listing the Scheduled Areas. Fourth, a new provision giving the Parliament the power to amend the Schedule was introduced. The Chairman made the case that with time, circumstances could change and it should be open to Parliament to make appropriate changes to the Schedule.

Some members were unhappy that the ‘Scheduled Tribes’ were left out from some parts of the Schedule. A member argued that since it was unclear how the scheduled areas would be demarcated; It was possible that there could be States with no Schedule Areas but with a Scheduled Tribe population. Hence, it was important that all provisions that apply to Scheduled Areas also specifically apply to Scheduled Tribes irrespective of whether they are in a Scheduled Area or not. The member was also extremely disappointed that the Chairman’s amendment made the Tribes Advisory Council subservient to the Governor of the State. He found it unacceptable that the Council will no longer have an effective and real say in the Administration of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes. He also argued that the Translation Committee should not translate the term ‘Scheduled Tribes’ as ‘Banjati’, but use the term ‘Adibasi’. This would be in accordance with the term used by the people of these groups for themselves.

One member wanted the primary responsibility of the welfare and administration of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes to lie with the Union Government and Parliament rather than the Governor. Another member largely accepted the Chairman’s amendment but pushed for making all tribal areas into Centrally administered areas. He felt that the provinces were not economically strong enough to take care of the needs of the Tribal population and hence, it would be better for the Centre to take control of these regions. Some members were wary of creating separate Scheduled Areas and Tribes Councils, suggesting that this could trigger separatist tendencies within the population.

A Drafting Committee member came to the defence of the revised Draft Schedule. He explained that the old Draft was found to be unsatisfactory for 2 reasons. The first reason was that the old schedule suggested a uniform scheme for the whole country even though the problem of the Scheduled tribes differed between the States or regions. The second reason was that the old draft was only meant for States which were previously Provinces and the revised Draft would now also extend the provisions of the schedule to the Princely States.

Despite several amendments being moved by the Assembly members, the Fifth Schedule as moved by the Drafting Committee Chairman was adopted as part of the Constitution on 5 September 1949.