§ Order for Second Reading read.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for INDIA (Earl Winterton)I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
It is a very simple Measure, with a very small point, which I think is adequately explained in the Memorandum to the Bill printed on the outside. Under the Government of India Act, it is laid down that one of the qualifications for appointment as judge of a High Court shall be that the person so appointed shall be 10 years a pleader of a High Court. Since the Act was passed the point has arisen as to whether it is clear that when a Chief Court is converted into a High 1378 Court, which has taken place recently, the position of pleader in a Chief Court counts towards the 10 years. This Bill proposes to remedy that doubt both as regards the past and future, and thereby to remove the doubts which have arisen. If the Bill were not passed, it would mean that Indian pleaders who had been pleaders in a Chief Court, where that Chief Court was turned into a High Court, would be prevented for some years from receiving these appointments, and pleaders would have to be brought in from outside, which would obviously be undesirable.