STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE INTER-STATE COUNCIL MEETS
The ninth meeting
of the Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council will be held
in New Delhi on May 13, 2003. The Deputy Prime Minister who is
the Chairman of the Council will preside.
The Inter-State
Council has so far been considering the recommendations of the
Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations. The mandate of
the Standing Committee is to review the recommendation of the
Commission before they are taken up for consideration of the Inter-State
Council. Out of the 247 recommendations under different chapters
in the Sarkaria Commission’s report, the Council has already taken
decisions on 230 recommendations. The remaining 17 recommendations
of the Commission on "Administrative Relations", "Emergency
Provisions" and "Deployment of the Armed Forces"
which are going to be discussed in this meeting were considered
in earlier meetings of the Standing Committee and were referred
to a Sub-Committee of the Standing Committee for detailed deliberations.
The meeting will also consider the views of another sub-committee
which was set-up by the Council to examine issues on contract
labour and contract appointments.
The Sarkaria
Commission made two recommendations on "Administrative Relations"
and the Inter-State council has already taken a final view on
one of them. The other recommendation of the Commission and the
Sub-Committee’s views that will come up for consideration in this
meeting relates to the powers of the Union to give directions
to States under Articles 256 and 257 of the Constitution and application
of sanction under Article 365 in the event of non-compliance of
the Centre’s direction.
In regard to
‘Emergency Provisions’, the Commission made twelve recommendations
relating to various aspects of Article 356 of the Constitution.
The Sub-Committee has examined these recommendations in the context
of earlier discussions held in the Standing Committee and the
Supreme Court Judgement in the Bommai case.
On deployment
of the Army, four recommendations of the Commission will come
up for consideration in the meeting. One recommendation relates
to consultation with the State Government before the deployment
of the Army in aid of civil power suo moto. The other three suggest
certain measures for strengthening of the State Armed Police Forces
and improving their operational efficiency. The Sub-Committees
views on these recommendations are also to be considered.
On Contract Labour
and Contract Appointments, the second Sub-Committee set up by
the Council has reached a consensus on some broad issues and the
Labour Ministry is already seized of the matter.
The Agenda for
discussion also includes the Action Taken Report on the recommendations
of Sarkaria Commission finalized by the Council.
