Indian Federalism And Its Challenges
Federalism is one of the important features of Indian Polity. Federalism finds its expression in two level of distinct governments i.e. Union Government and State Government. There exist three lists i.e – Union List, State List and Concurrent List. On the subjects falling under Union List only Parliament can legislate. On the subjects falling under State List only State Legislatures can legislate. On the subjects falling under Concurrent List, Parliament as well as State Legislatures can legislate. There is independent judiciary in form of the Supreme Court to determine disputes between the Union and the States.
But there are certain features which make Indian Federalism distinctive and sui generis. There is common citizenships, integrated judiciary, common services, emergency powers of the Union etc which make the Indian Federalism biased towards the Union. Some of these aspects are also reasons for disputes between the Union and States.
Appointment of Governor
Governor of State is appointed by the President on the advice of Council of Ministers of the Union. The State Government has no say in the appointment of the Governor. The power to remove Governor also lies with the President. The State Governments perceive the Governor as agent of the Union. There have been numerous instances wherein there have been conflicts between State Government and the Union in respect of appointment and functioning of the Governor.
Article 356
Article 356 empowers the President to impose president rule in a state on the report of the Governor or otherwise. The President can impose President Rule in state without giving any opportunity to the state government to express its views. There have been various instances when President Rule has been imposed arbitrarily in States.
All India Services
Members of All India Services serve both the Union and the States. There exists three All India Services in India i.e. Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service. The State Government does not have full control over members of All India Services.
Reports Of Various Commissions
Various committees have been constituted from time to time to suggest reforms in Union- State relations. Reports of some of the committees are as under:
Administrative Reforms Commission
First Administrative Reforms Commission constituted in 1966 recommended for establishment of an inter-state council under Article 263 of the Constitution. It recommended that there should be maximum delegation of powers to the states. Financial resources of the State should be augmented. Non-partisan persons should be appointed as governors.
Rajmannar Commission
Rajmannar Commission was constituted by the Tamil Nadu Government in 1969. It submitted its report in 1971. It recommended for vesting of residuary powers in State Government. It also recommended for abolition of All India Services and Article 356.
Sarkaria Commission
Sarkaria Commission was constituted in 1983 by Central Government. Sarkaria Commission submitted its report in 1988. Important recommendations made by Sarkaria Commission are as under:
- The Governor should be eminent in some walk of life and should be from outside of the state. He should be a detached figure without intense political links or should not have taken part in active politics in recent past. He should not be a member of ruling party. He should be appointed after effective consultation with state Chief Minister, Vice President and Speaker of Lok Sabha.
- The Governor should enjoy the term of five years as far as possible. He should be removed on grounds only mentioned in the constitution or if aspersions are cast on his morality, dignity , constitutional propriety. State Government should be consulted before removal of the Governor.
- Article 356 should be used very sparingly and as a matter of last resort. It should be invoked only in event of political crisis, internal subversion, physical breakdown and non-compliance with the constitutional directives of the centre. The material fact and grounds on the basis of which this article is invoked should be made an integral part of the proclamation. The Report of the Governor should be a speaking document and it should be given wide publicity.
- Union should occupy only that much field of a concurrent subject on which uniformity of policy and action is required in the larger interest of the Nation leaving the rest of the details for state action. Before the Union proposes to undertake legislative action on concurrent list it should seek view of state. Parliamentary law passed under Article 252 on request of two or more states should not be perpetual but for a specific period not exceeding three years.
Punchhi Commission
The Government of India constituted a Commission on Centre-State Relations under the chairmanship of Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi. The important recommendations of the Punchhi Commission are as under :
- It called for giving fixed term of five years to the Governors and their removal by the process of impeachment by the State Legislature
- The Governor should have the right to sanction the prosecution of a minister against the advice of the council of ministers. It recommended for localizing emergency provisions under which either a district or parts of a district can be brought under the central rule instead of whole state.
- It proposed that Centre should have power to deploy its forces in case of communal conflagration without the state’s consent for a short period of a week.
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Mukesh Kumar Suman is an advocate and legal author based at Delhi. He regularly appears before various Judicial Forums including NCLT, NCLAT, High Courts and the Supreme Court. He can be approached at mukesh_suman@outlook.com or +91 9717864570.