Madhusudan_Das
Madhusudan_Das
Madhusudan_Das
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20 <strong>Madhusudan</strong> <strong>Das</strong> :<br />
by the Council and reluctantly by Mr. <strong>Das</strong> also. He was in favour<br />
of either full salary or no salary at all but that position was not<br />
acceptable to the council. Mr. <strong>Das</strong> agreed to the reduction in order<br />
to accommodate his brother-minister, the late Sir Fakhruddin, and<br />
subsequently resigned his post on account of his conviction. He was<br />
of opinion that the Minister should be fully paid to maintain his dignity<br />
or he should be a Minister of the type of Vidoor and Chanakya. As<br />
the Council did not accept his view, he very rightly tendered his<br />
resignation to save the position of Sir Fakhruddin. I do not know<br />
when his ideal will be attained. Ministers in ancient India felt pride<br />
in their poverty but India of today is quite different and the post of<br />
the Minister is coveted on account of its high salary.<br />
Mr. <strong>Das</strong> immediately after his appointment took up the<br />
amendment of the Municipal Act and the Local Self-Government Act,<br />
the materials for which were being collected for some time past. The<br />
task was a very heavy one ; Mr. <strong>Das</strong> as a lawyer and accustomed<br />
to labour on briefs was competent for the work. The Bill was introduced<br />
in the Council and was circulated for public opinion. Mr. <strong>Das</strong> carefully<br />
examined the public view as expressed in the Council and also outside<br />
and made the draft Bills as liberal as practicable. I was one of the<br />
members of the Select Committee of the Local Self-Government Bill<br />
and am fully aware that he was in favour of investing local bodies<br />
with full powers of control over their administration. When the Bill<br />
was taken up for consideration in the Council, I took active part in<br />
proposing amendments most of which were accepted. Mr. <strong>Das</strong> took<br />
very lively interest in liberalising the provisions of the Bills. Both<br />
the Municipal and local Self-Government Acts are monuments of his<br />
work in the council and of his ideals of the liberty of the people.<br />
They were the first liberal Acts passed in India in the Reformed<br />
Council. I have had, as a Minister, to deal with both the Acts for<br />
a number of years. No doubt there are defects and sometimes<br />
considerable difficulty is felt in dealing with local bodies which do<br />
not observe the provisions of the law ; still I must admit that the<br />
liberal spirit of Mr. <strong>Das</strong> is noticed everywhere.<br />
Mr. <strong>Das</strong> as Minister preferred efficiency to economy .His idea<br />
was that economy sometimes affects efficiency. This was considerably<br />
noticeable during the Retrenchment Committee meetings and other<br />
debates in the Council. He was also in favour of freedom of the