Vaiko Moves Resolution To Restore Subjects Transferred From State List To Concurrent List Of Constitution

Unlike a typical federation, India has a strong centre, contributing to its Quasi-Federal structure. On Friday, MDMK leader Vaiko moved a resolution in the Rajya Sabha, seeking necessary measures for greater autonomy of states, including amendments to the Constitution to bring back the subjects which were transferred from the State List to the Concurrent List, during the last 70 years. While introducing the Resolution, Vaiko stressed that the core objective of his political party was promoting Federalism. "The Cardinal principle of my party, MDMK is decentralization- giving more powers to the State," he said. He said that the Constitution had been amended as many as 103 times, and not always for good. He said that the Indian Constitution had been moulded to suit the whims and fancies of the Centre, in complete disregard to the federal structure of the country. Condemning the transfer of four essential powers from the State List to the Concurrent List during the subsistence of emergency in 1976, he said, "Some important subjects have been transferred over the years from the State List thereby diluting and diverting the States' powers…When we were languishing in the dark dungeon cells of emergency, education was easily swallowed by the Centre. Education went to the concurrent list; now it has become more or less a part of union list. Only for namesake it is in the concurrent list." The Constitution (Forty-second Amendment) Bill, 1976 transferred four important subjects to the Concurrent List from State List. They are : (a) education, (b) forests, (c) population control, and (d) administration of justice; constitution and organization of all courts except the Supreme Court and the high courts. Vaiko remarked that the Centre had seized powers that were germane for proper management of states and left them with items that were "ridiculous". He cited the words of Dr. BR Ambedkar, who said on the last day of the Constituent Assembly, "As to the relation between Centre and the states it is necessary to bear in mind the fundamental principle on which it rests. The basic principle of federalism is that the legislative and the executive authority is partitioned between the centre and the states not by any law to be made by the Centre but by the Constitution itself. This is what the Constitution does. The States under our Constitution are in no way dependent upon the Centre for their legislative or executive authority. The States and the Centre is co-equal in this matter. It is difficult to see how such a constitution can be called centralism. It may be that Constitution assigns the centre too large field of operation of legislative and executive authority to centre than is to be found in any other Constitution. It may that residuary powers are given to the centre and not ot the states. But these features do not form the essence of federalism. The chief mark of federalism lies in the partition of the legislative and executive authority between the Centre and States by the Constitution. This is the principle embodied in our Constitution." On the strength of these words, Vaiko stressed that decentralization of power was essential to preserve the Federal structure of the country. Thus, he sought that the residuary powers be vested in the State, along with transfer of ten powers that were contained in the Concurrent List, to the State List. "Entry No. 97, i.e., Residuary powers, which is in the Union list should be included in the state list…I wish that the following ten items should be deleted from the Concurrent list and added to the State list: Entry no. 6, 8, 25, 28, 30, 31, 40, 41, 42, 44," he sought. These Entries read as under: Entry 6: Transfer of property other than agricultural land; registration of deeds and documents Entry 8: Actionable wrongs Entry 25: Education, including technical education, medical education and universities, subject to the provisions of entries 63, 64, 65 and 66 of List I; vocational and technical training of labour Entry 28: Charities and charitable institutions, charitable and religious endowments and religious institutions Entry 30: Vital statistics including registration of births and deaths Entry 31: Ports other than those declared by or under law made by Parliament or existing law to be major ports Entry 40: Archaeological sites and remains other than those declared by or under law made by Parliament to be of national importance. Entry 41: Custody, management and disposal of property (including agricultural land) declared by law to be evacuee property. Entry 42: Acquisition and requisitioning of property Entry 44: Stamp duties other than duties or fees collected by means of judicial stamps, but not including rates of stamp duty The common voice among the supporters of the Bill was that federalism is important for preservation of national unity. "An ideal ...

Vaiko Moves Resolution To Restore Subjects Transferred From State List To Concurrent List Of Constitution

Akshita Saxena

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