Indian Constitution has adopted quasi-federal system. The quasi-federal system in India is named from the fact that it combines the best elements of both a federation and a union. The word “quasi-federalism” refers to a state that is halfway between a unitary state and a federation. It combines the characteristics of a federal government with those of a unitary government. India is classified as a quasi-federal or semi-federal state. It is also described as a federal system with a strong bias toward the Centre by the Supreme Court of India.
The government’s outward structure is federal, yet its essence is united. It becomes a unitary system in the event of a national or economic crisis. The federal government is more powerful than state and local governments. The Indian federation is the result of a long and winding process. Due to the fact that India was a subcontinental country, the Government of India Act, 1935, introduced the concept of federalism. It is a nation that is multi-religious, multi-racial, and multilingual.
The Indian constitution adopted a federal framework in response to this reality. In India’s constitution, the word “federal” appears nowhere “India that is Bharat shall be a union of states.”[1] says Article 1 simply. Dr B.R. Ambedkar explained the essence of the Indian federal system, saying, “It formed a dual polity with the union at the centre and the states at the periphery, each endowed with sovereign powers to be exercised in the field, allotted to them by the constitution. The Union is neither a loose confederation of states, nor are the states its agents, drawing powers from it. field; the authority of one is not inferior to that of the other in its own field; the authority of one is co-ordinate with that of the other. In both the centre and the state, various political parties are in control.
There is no collaboration between the two of them. Indian federalism is characterised by conflict as well as cooperation between two levels of government. There’s no denying that the Indian constitution’s authors sought to construct a strong centre in order to maintain the country’s unity and integrity. The centralising impulses ingrained in the constitution have made their intentions obvious. Despite a powerful central government, the states did not feel threatened until 1967. After non-congress governments took power in eight states in 1967, the question of preserving state autonomy was discussed.
Thus, it can be concluded that the Indian constitution has produced a federation with a strong union and weak states, as evidenced by the legislative relationship between the union and the states. Finally, a detailed examination of the federal and unitary components of the constitution reveals that there was an eventual centralising force that existed in every federal characteristic. As a result, it is reasonable to conclude that the Indian Constitution is federal in form and unitary in spirit, i.e., it is quasi-federal in character.
Aishwarya Says:
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[1] INDIA CONST. art. 1.