Centre-State relations are a crucial aspect of India’s federal structure. To ensure smooth coordination and address emerging issues, several committees have been constituted throughout the country’s history.
Here’s a brief overview of some key Centre-State Relation Committees in India:
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Administrative reforms commission
- Establishment of an Inter-state council under Article 263 of the constitution
- Appointment of persons having long-experiences in public life and non-partisan attitudes as governors
- Delegated maximum powers to the states
- Transferring of more financial resources to the states to reduce their dependency upon the centre
- Deployment of central armed forces in the states either on their request or otherwise
- Rajamannar committee appointed by Tamil Nadu government made various recommendation to address the asymmetry between powers of centre and the state
- Punjab through Anandpur Sahib resolution and West Bengal through a memorandum made similar recommendations to address these asymmetry
- Government appointed Sarkaria Commission in 1983 and Punnchi Commission in 2007 to examine the status of centre-state relations
Sarkaria commission recommendation:
- Setting up a permanent inter-state council
- Article 356 should be used sparingly
- Institution of all-India service should be strengthened
- Residuary power should remain with the parliament
- Reasons should be communicated to the state when state bills are vetoed by the President
- The Centre should have powers to deploy its armed forces, even without the consent of states. However, it is desirable that the states should be consulted
- The Procedure of consulting the chief minister in the appointment of the state governor should be prescribed in the constitution itself
- Governors should be allowed to complete their term of five years
- Commissioner for linguistic minorities should be activated
Punchhi commission
- Giving a fixed term of five years to the governors and their removal by the process of impeachment
- The Union should be extremely restrained in asserting Parliamentary supremacy in matters assigned to the states
- It prescribed certain conditions that one should keep in mind while appointing governors:
- He should be eminent in some walk of life
- He should be a person from outside the state
- He should be a detached figure and not connected with the local politics
- He should not be connected with politics in the recent past
- Government should be given a fixed tenure of five years
- The Procedure given for the impeachment of the President could be made applicable to the governor as well
- Governor should insist on the Chief Minister proving his majority on the floor of the house for which he should prescribe a time-limit
- Bommai case guidelines should be kept in mind while deciding cases related to President’s rule
- Inter-state council should be made more use of to further centre-state relations