On Co-ordination between States, Centre-State Relations and Inter-State Council

Inter State Council

♤ Article 263 states that It shall be lawful for the President to establish an ISC for inquiring, discussing and advising upon:

o disputes which may have arisen between States

o subjects in which some or all of the States, or the Union and one or more of the States, have a common interest; or

o such subject and, in particular, recommendations for the better co- ordination of policy and action with respect to that subject.

♤ The council consists of the PM as the Chairman, CMs of all states and UTs, Administrators of UTs not having Legislative Assemblies and six union cabinet minister including Home Minister nominated by PM.

♤ It is not a permanent constitutional body but it can be established ‘at any time’ if it appears to the President that the public interests would be served by the establishment of such a council.

Federalism is a living faith to manage diversities and it needs to be supported by institutional mechanisms to facilitate co-operation and co-ordination among the Units and between the Units and the Union. Co-operative federalism is easily endorsed but difficult to practice without adequate means of consultation at all levels of government.

The Constitution has provided only limited institutional arrangements for the purpose and regrettably they are not adequately utilized. In this context, the Commission strongly recommends the following for strengthening and mainstreaming of the Inter-State Council to make it a vibrant forum for all the tasks contemplated in Clauses (a) to (c) of Article 263:

♤ The Inter-State Council must meet at least thrice in a year on an agenda evolved after proper consultation with States.

♤ The Council should have experts in its organizational set up drawn from the disciplines of Law, Management and Political Science besides the All India Services.

♤ The Council should have functional independence with a professional Secretariat constituted with experts on relevant fields of knowledge supported by Central and State officials on deputation for limited periods.

♤ After ISC is made a vibrant, negotiating forum for policy development and conflict resolution, the Government may consider the functions for the National Development Council also being transferred to the ISC.

♤ It should have sufficient resources and authority to carry out its functions effectively and to engage civil society besides governments and other public bodies.

♤ It must be empowered to follow up the implementation of its decisions for which appropriate statutory provisions should be made.

Towards this end, the Commission would recommend suitable amendments to Article 263 with a view to make the Inter-State Council a credible, powerful and fair mechanism for management of inter-state and Centre-State differences.