SIR MANGHERJEE BHOWNAG-GREEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he will place on the Table of the House the Draft of the Official Secrets Bill of the Government of India, as amended in Committee; and whether he intends giving the House an opportunity of expressing its views on the measure before giving his final sanction to it.
§ *MR. BRODRICKA copy of the Indian Official Secrets Bill, as amended by the Select Committee, was published in the Gazette of India for February 6th, which my hon. friend will find in the library of the House. The Bill has now been passed without a division through its final stage, and has become law. It requires no sanction from me; but His Majesty the King, has, of course, the power of disallowing this or any other Indian Act, upon the advice of his Ministers, if he should think fit to do so. I will lay a copy of the amended Bill as soon as I receive it.