§ 8.43 p.m.
§ The SOLICITOR-GENERALI beg to move, in page 173, line 14, to leave out from "grant," to "made," in line 15, and to insert:
or confirmation of title of or to land, or of or to any right or privilege in respect of land or land revenue, being a grant or confirmation.?This Amendment and the following one on the Paper—In page 173, line 17, to leave out "fifty-eight," and to insert "seventy"—deal with Sub-section (1) of the Clause. The Sub-section gives the limited protection set out in it to grants of or connected with land or land revenue, and it is limited to grants made before the 1stJanuary, 1858. The reason for that date is obvious. A number of these grants were made in connection with services rendered to the civil power at the time of the Mutiny. The grants took different forms, and in the Bill as drafted the words are "grant of land." In the Amendment we propose to add the words "or confirmation of title of or to land," to cover the case which I under stand exists in which the grant did not actually take the form of a grant of land, but merely confirmed an existing title to land; while the words "or of or to any right or privilege in respect of land or land revenue" slightly extend the generality of the words. That has been found necessary in order to cover, as the 1052 earlier words were intended to cover, grants of this kind. The other point is that the date of 1858 is being extended to 1870.The reason for that is that, al though these grants were made in respect of services rendered during the Mutiny, owing to the leisurely manner in which things were done in India in those days the actual completion of the grant was protracted in some cases for many years. Therefore, it is necessary to put in a later date, not with a view to bringing in any new category of people, but simply to make sure that all grants made in respect of services before 1858 shall be brought within the Clause.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ Further Amendment made:
§ In page 173, line 17, leave out "fifty-eight," and insert "seventy."—[The Solicitor-General.]
§ 8.45 p.m.
§ The SOLICITOR-GENERALI beg to move, in page 173, line 19, to leave out
on political considerations shall be discontinued," and to insert:before the commencement of Part III of this Act by the Governor-General in Council or any Local Government on political considerations or compassionate grounds shall be discontinued or reduced, otherwise than in accordance with any grant or order regulating the payment thereof.?The second Sub-section of this Clause gives the same protection to pensions granted "on political considerations," which are words taken from an old Indian Act and have perhaps rather wider scope than they might have in this country. They cover, in fact, all pensions granted in respect of special services to the Government, some no doubt from the time of the Mutiny, and others from more recent times, and where special services have been rendered in connection with what ever it may be, terrorism or other matters. The object of the Clause is to see that those pensions are safeguarded to the extent provided here, namely, that the Governor-General, in the exercise of his individual judgment, must give his consent to any discontinuance of them. The Amendment merely puts right what was our original intention, namely, to limit this safeguard to pensions already granted. There is no reason why this House in this Bill should give any special protection to pensions which may be granted in the future. We are concerned 1053 to see that pensions of this kind which have been granted in the past shall have a protection of this kind.
§ Amendment agreed to.