Madhusudan_Das

II
MADHUSUDAN DAS :
A CONSTITUTIONAL PROBLEM
SRIRAM CHANDRA DASH
Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das raised a storm in the
Constitutional dovecotes of India by his action in resigning the
Ministership in 1923. Mr. Das was the first Oriya to assume office as a
Minister under Dyarchy in Bihar and Orissa and was also first Oriya to
resign office on an issue of principle. There are two opinions in regard to
the legality of his action but there can hardly be any question about the
morality of the step taken by him.
Mr. Madhusudan Das was the Minister for Local Sclf-Govemment.
Under the Government of India Act. 1919. a Minister was to be appointed
from among the elected members of the Legislature. The Ministers so
appointed normally belonged to the same political party but there was no
requirement of party homogeneity among these Ministers. The provisions
of the Act were satisfied if the Minister was an elected Member of the
Legislative Council and if a person who was not such a member was
appointed a Minister, he was to get himself elected as a member of the
Council within a period of six months. Membership of the Legislative
Council was not honorary, it was a paid office and the salary attached to
the office of a Minister was much higher man that of an ordinary member
of the Legislative Council. Local Governing Bodies were manned by
honorary workers but the Minister for Local Self-Government who was at
the apex of the organisational hierarchy, was paid a much higher salary
namely Rs. 60000/- per annum. Mr. Das was a patriot of no mean order
and he probably felt embarrassed to preside over a department which was
exclusively honorary in character and as such he said on February 21.
1922 in the Legislative Council "In an organisation in which all the
workers are honorary, a salaried Minister mars the symmetry and harmony
of the organisation. The Office of the Minister of Local Self-Government
ought to be honorary. To convert this office into an honorary one. the
present official machinery needs addition and adjustment". This was a
sentiment which is unexceptionable. The position of a Minister was a
salaried one. It was no doubt a place for rendering service to the public
but whether the service should be honorary or salaried was a question