India's Constitutional Problems The constitutional dispute in India may after
all have good results if it is solved as amicably as seems likely at present ; for in fact only by such disputes can a body of convention and precedent be built up which will regulate the working of the sometimes incompatible clauses of the Constitution. In the present dispute a real contradiction does in fact appear to exist between the Ministries' responsibility for law and order, combined with the Governors' duty to accept their Mihisters' advice on the one hand, and, on the other, the Governors' and the Viceroy's responsibility for the peace and tranquillity of the Provinces and of India. In fact, the con- tradiction might have been avoided but for fears for the effect of the release of political prisoners in Bihar and the United Provinces on the terrorist movement in Bengal, which, as even Congress admits, requires special treatment. These fears may be diminished by the resolution, passed by the Congress Working Committee on Mr. Gandhi's initiative, rejecting the application to other provinces of the demands put forward in Bihar and the United Provinces. It is clear also that one of the chief reasons for the rejection of the Ministries' advice was, as explained in a conciliatory statement of the Viceroy's, the unreasonable time-limit of three hours which accompanied them. The refusal of the Ministries' resigna- tions by the Governors leaves the way open for renewed discussions which may well lead to a solution of the problem of the political prisoners in the two provinces.
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