On 27th December 1948 at the Constituent Assembly Dr. B. R. Ambedkar was speaking on the official residence of the President and during which the following exchange took place;
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Then with regard to the question raised by Professor Kamath about residential —-
Shri HV Kamath: Sir, I am not Professor Kamath.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: But he is quite entitled to be called Professor because he is speaking often [laughter].
H. V. Kamath: God forbid I should ever become a Professor [laughter].
Then B. R. Ambedkar: My Friend Mr. Kamath asked me to explain why we have included this Provision here, with regard to the official residence of the President and he also twitted me on this fact that I was burdening the Constitution by mentioning it and other small minutiae. It might be though that this is a small matter and might not have been included in the Constitution. But the question I would like to ask Mr. Kamath is this, does he or does not intend that the President should have an official residence and that Parliament should make provision for it? And, is there very much of wrong in the proposition was stated in the Constitution itself. The intention is that—
H. V. Kamath: Sir, may I know whether the Prime Minister will or will not have an official residence?
B. R. Ambedkar: Yes, this is merely a matter of logic. I want to know if he does or does not support the proposition that the President should have an official residence. If he accepts the proposition, then it seems to me a matter of small import whether a provision is made in the Constitution itself or whether the matter is left for the future Parliament to decide. The reason why we have introduced this matter in the Constitution is that the Government of India Act, in the several orders in the Council which have been issued by the Secretary of the State under the authority conferred upon him by the Second Schedule of the Government of India Act, official residences both for the Governor General and the Governor have been laid down on we have merely followed existing practice in incorporating this particular provision in the Constitution I do not think we have done any very great violence either to good taste as or done something which we do not intend to do.
H. V. Kamath: On a point of clarification, Sir, may I know whether this particular Clause of Article 48 will stand in the way of the President being provided with more than one official residence? He speaks of the President having an official residence.
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar: Not at all, there may be two official residences.
Comment: President is honoured with the possession of official residences in a country where the humdrum people will live without a residence temporary or permanent.