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
- Centre should have powers to deploy its armed forces, even without the consent of states. However, it is desirable that the states should be consult.
- The constitution itself should prescribe the procedure of consulting the chief minister in the appointment of the state governor.
- Allowing governors to serve their full five-year term is important.
- Commissioner for linguistic minorities should be activated.
Punchhi commission recommendation
- Giving a fixed term of five years to the governors and their removal by the process of impeachment
- The Union should exercise great restraint in asserting Parliamentary supremacy in matters designated for 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 recent past
- Fixing the government’s tenure for five years is necessary.
- The procedure provides for the impeachment of the President could also be extended to apply to the governor.
- Governor should insist on Chief Minister proving his majority on the floor of the house for which he should prescribe a time-limit
- Deciding cases related to President’s rule should consider the guidelines set by the Bommai case.
- To enhance centre-state relations, authorities should increase the utilization of the Inter-State Council.
Recommendations On Centre-State Relations, Recommendations On Centre-State Relations
