Sambhav-2023

Answer 1:

Approach

• Introduce the federal nature of the Indian constitution that advocates strong and trusted center-state.
• Mention the constitutional provisions and extra constitutional provisions like commissions, zonal councils etc.
• Conclude suitably.

Introduction

• The Constitution of India, being federal in structure, divides all powers (legislative, executive and financial) between the Centre and the states and to fulfill its federal spirit there are several commissions and committees were formed for better cooperation among the center and states.
• Hence, the Constitution contains elaborate provisions to regulate the various dimensions of the relations between the Centre and the states. The Centre-state relations can be studied under three heads: Legislative relations, administrative relations and financial relations.

Body

Constitutional Provision:

Legislative Relations:

• Articles 245 to 255 in Part XI of the Constitution deal with the legislative relations between the Centre and the states.
• Given federal nature of the Indian Constitution, it divides the legislative powers between the Centre and the states with respect to both the territory and the subjects of legislation.
• Distribution of Legislative Subjects (Article 246)
  • Indian Constitution provides for a division of the subjects between the Centre and the states through three lists – List-I (Union), List-II (State) and List-III (Concurrent) in the Seventh Schedule.
• Parliament legislation in state Field (Article 249): In abnormal times, the scheme of distribution is either modified or suspended.

Administrative Relations (Article 256-263):

• Articles spanning from 256 to 263 in Part XI of the Constitution deal with the administrative relations between the Centre and the states.
• The scheme of allocating an administrative responsibility is drawn for the purpose of:
  • The administration of law
  • Achieving coordination between the centre and state
  • The settlement of disputes between the centre and state
• Other Constitutional provisions for Cooperation between the Center and State, like:
  • Full faith and credit are to be given throughout the territory of India to public acts, records of the Centre and every state (Article 261).
  • The President can establish an Inter-State Council to investigate and discuss subject of common interest between the Centre and the states (Article 263).
  • Mutual delegation of functions by the parliament/president to the state legislature and vice-versa.
  • Centre’s Directions to the States for construction and maintenance of means of communication by the state, protection of the railways, provisions for primary education in mother tongue, etc.
  • All India Services to maintain a high standard of administration and under joint control of centre and the states.

Financial Relations (Article 256-291):

• Articles spanning from 268 to 293 in Part XII of the Constitution deal with Centre – state financial relations.

Based on these constitutional provisions several other extra constitutional provisions are also made in this respect:

• Commissions for better center-state relations:
  • Administrative reforms commission: It has recommended that:
    • Appointment of persons having long-experiences in public life and non-partisan attitudes as governors
    • Transferring of more financial resources to the states to reduce their dependency upon the centre.
  • Sarkaria commission recommendation:
    • Article 356 should be used sparingly
    • Reasons should be communicated to the state when state bills are vetoed by the President
    • Commissioner for linguistic minorities should be activated
  • Punchhi commission:
    • Union should be extremely restrained in asserting Parliamentary supremacy in matters assigned to the states
    • Bommai case guidelines should be kept in mind while deciding cases related to President’s rule
• Number of advisory bodies and conferences like NITI Aayog, the National Integration Council, the Central Council of Health and Family Welfare, the Central Council of Local Government, the Zonal Councils, the North-Eastern Council, the Central Council of Indian Medicine, etc.
• Other important conferences held either annually or otherwise to facilitate Centre-state consultation on a wide range of matters are as follows:
  • The governors’ conference (presided over by the President).
  • The chief ministers’ conference (presided over by the prime minister).
  • The chief secretaries’ conference (presided over by the cabinet secretary).
    • The conference of inspector-general of police.
    • The chief justices’ conference, etc.

Conclusion

Although there are several constitutional provisions and commissions recommendation made to tackle the issue of center-state relation but need for better implementation of these provision to serve the citizen’s interest in desired manner.

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Answer 2:

Approach

• Introduce what is meant by emergency and describe the types of emergencies mentioned in the constitution.
• Discuss the effect of national emergency on fundamental rights.
• Conclude suitably.

Introduction

• The Emergency provisions are contained in Part XVIII of the Constitution, from Articles 352 to 360.
  • These provisions enable the Central government to meet any abnormal situation like to safeguard the sovereignty, unity, integrity and security of the country, the democratic political system, and the Constitution.

Body

• The Constitution stipulates three types of emergencies:
  • National Emergency: An emergency due to war, external aggression or armed rebellion (Article 352). For this Constitution employs the expression ‘proclamation of emergency’.
  • State Emergency’ or ‘constitutional Emergency: An Emergency due to the failure of the constitutional machinery in the states (Article 356). This is popularly known as ‘President’s Rule’. However, the Constitution does not use the word ‘emergency’ for this situation.
  • Financial Emergency due to a threat to the financial stability or credit of India (Article 360).

Effect of national emergency on the fundamental rights:

• Effect on the Fundamental Rights:
  • Articles 358 and 359 describe the effect of a National Emergency on the Fundamental Rights.
  • Article 358 deals with the suspension of the Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Article 19, while Article 359 deals with the suspension of other Fundamental Rights (except those guaranteed by Articles 20 and 21). These two provisions are explained below:
  • Suspension of Fundamental Rights under Article 19: According to Article 358, when a proclamation of National Emergency is made, the six fundamental rights under article 19 are automatically suspended. Article 19 is automatically revived after the expiry of the emergency.
  • The 44^th Amendment Act laid out that Article 19 can only be suspended when the National Emergency is laid on the grounds of war or external aggression and not in the case of armed rebellion.
  • Suspension of other Fundamental Rights: Under Article 359, the President is authorised to suspend, by order, the right to move any court for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights during a National Emergency. Thus, remedial measures are suspended and not the Fundamental Rights.
    • The suspension of enforcement relates to only those Fundamental Rights that are specified in the Presidential Order.
    • The suspension could be for the period during the operation of emergency or for a shorter period.
    • The Order should be laid before each House of Parliament for approval.
    • The 44^th Amendment Act mandates that the President cannot suspend the right to move the court for the enforcement of Fundamental Rights guaranteed by Article 20 and 21.

Conclusion

To maintain the balance between the fundamental rights of the people and national interest 44th Amendment Act of 1978 restricted the scope suspension of the fundamental during emergency like right to life and personal liberty (Article 21) remain enforceable even during emergency.