More than half a century after the Rajamannar Committee was appointed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to examine Centre-state relations and recommend changes for greater state autonomy, his son M K Stalin felt compelled to repeat the exercise. The report recently submitted by Justice Kurian Joseph Committee brought the focus back on concerns raised by several opposition-ruled states. For Tamil Nadu, the report acts as a white paper on the subject in election season. The panel has clarified that the submitted report is only the first part, with a second to follow later.
The report recommends that Article 155 of the Constitution be amended to compel the President to appoint as governor one of three names shortlisted by the state government and approved by its assembly. It also suggests that a governor be removed only by a majority in the assembly, with the President bound to act on the resolution within two weeks. It also recommends removal of the ‘pleasure’ doctrine under Article 156 that allows the Union government to remove governors with ease. On Bills passed by a legislature, it recommends time-bound assent. Another significant recommendation is to freeze the number of Lok Sabha seats allocated to states based on the 1971 Census until 2116, or until the fertility rates of all states converge. Also according to the panel, English should be made a permanent associate official language.
Two previous national commissions—headed by former Chief Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi (2010) and Justice Ranjit Singh Sarkaria (1988) of the Supreme Court—also examined some of the same issues affecting the federal balance, with a focus on the governor’s role. Yet, Union-state relations have deteriorated over the past two decades. One of the key proposals of the Rajamannar panel was to improve states’ financial autonomy by abolishing the Planning Commission, arguing it undermined state finances by centralising resource allocation. The Planning Commission was eventually scrapped, but states face an unprecedented financial squeeze under the GST regime.
Several state governments have invoked specific recommendations of the earlier panels to call for return to a warmer federal spirit. The new panel offers some stronger remedies on contentious issues. While action on them, which would require a parliamentary majority, remains a distant dream, the Justice Joseph Committee’s report signals the distance Indian federalism has travelled from the last era in which one party held sway over most of the nation.