§ MR. PICKERSGILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he is aware that doubts have arisen in this country whether Section 439 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure Bill, 1898, in so far as it restricts the revisory powers of the High Courts of Judicature at Fort William, Madras, and Bombay, is not in conflict with Article 28 of the 839 Letters Patent establishing the said Courts respectively, which were issued by Her Majesty under the authority of the Statute 24 and 25 Vic, c. 104; and will he say whether he has been advised that the said section is intra vires of the Legislative Council of the Viceroy?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIAI was not aware that any such doubt had been suggested in this country, but some of the Indian, opinions which I have seen raise objections to the clause as drafted, to which the hon. Member refers. These objections will doubtless receive full consideration from the Government of India and the Select Committee to which the Bill has been referred; and if I find, after consultation with my legal adviser, that there is any inconsistency between the clause, as ultimately settled, and the Letters Patent, I shall know how to act.