Madhusudan_Das

His Life and Achievements 125
which had been decided by Parliament at the time of enacting the
Government of India Act. 1919. One cannot accept ministership with a
part of the obligations of office and renounce the rest. The moment a
Minister fell that he should accept no salary for the service that he renders
in his office, he should have either refused to accept office or resigned the
office of a Minister, but to continue as a Minister and then refuse to
accept a salary attached to that office is a position which cannot easily be
reconciled with constitutional niceties. All the same the lofty idealism
involved in the statement of Mr. Das cannot be doubled at all. In fact Mr.
Das in a letter addressed to the Governor of Bihar and Orissa on 6th
February. 1921 on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales (later
King Edward VIII) wrote :
I did not seek the office 1 am in now. I accepted it as it was
accompanied by an eloquent and forcible appeal by an illustrious
countryman of mine (Lord Sinha of Raipur) just before he started
to take charge of this office as Governor. I had actually been
requested by big land lords of Bihar to have the way for a friend
of mine and I had in my humble way helped him.
The desire of Mr. Das to act as an honorary Minister was prompted
by high idealism and considerations of selfless service but men of his
metal are not plentifully available in me country. The other Minister was
in difficulty as he was not willing to act in an honorary capacity. So Mr.
Das in a letter dated 8th March. 1923 addressed to the Governor (Sir
H.Wheeler) said "I was obliged to accept me proposal of a reduced pay
because I found that my brother - Minister was willing to accept the
proposal and he felt that I was an impediment on his way. In order to
improve his position I agreed to accept me proposal... 1 still believe that
the office ought to be honorary. "The question of quantum of salary is not
very important. In fact, the Congress Ministers who assumed office in
1937 accepted a salary of Rs. 500/- per mensem. In case of the Ministers
under Dyarchy. the position was slightly different. The Governor was
administering the Reserved Departments with me help of Executive
Councillors and the Transferred Departments with the help of Ministers.
The Executive Councillor carried the same burden of responsibility and
dealt with me same band of departmental Secretaries as a Minister. Another
Oriya, Sir Rajendra Narayan Bhanja Deo. Raja Bahadur of Kanika was an
Executive Councillor and was the finance Member of Bihar and Orissa.
Could there be a separate provision for salary for Ministers in general or