This article is written by MS SHAHEEN HIRANI a 4th year student at Keshav Memorial College of Law.
Several countries across the globe are growing in every aspect as they can. Let it be socially, financially, diplomatic way and for this there require a strong government which must function so efficiently that it helps in enhancing the state and not deteriorating its growth, and it could be possible when there are two bodies which can collectively work together in their own hemisphere for country as a whole, and thus the concept of FEDERALISM comes into existence.
Federalism is a kind of government in which powers have been divided between the ‘entre’ and its subordinate part such as ‘state or province’. It is a social mechanism, to accommodate two sets of politics, one at centre or national level other at state or provincial level. Federalism helps in delegating certain responsibilities to each section so that the central government performs its own task and so does the state government.
The word Federalism is emerged from a Latin word “Foedus” which means “treaty or covenant”. It is a system of national government classified within central and regional government. The constitution must be a written one and has the essence of independent judiciary to elaborately expand the principle of federalism. The national and the local bodies are delegated with sphere of power and authority.
NECESSITY OF FEDERALISM
Prior to independence, India had a unitary form of govt. After independence the pressure of economic, political and social conditions were compelled on states, where each state had common problem and to resolve it federal type of govt was initiated.
British India was administered until 1935 on unitary basis. After the end of British rule, the unitary system was replaced by federal system based on 1935 system.
It was observed that in absence of strong- central govt the country disintegrates. Similarly in absence of state govt, central govt cannot reach out to every single issue and thus necessary precautions were taken by making centre strong and subordinate to it.
INDIAN FEDERALISM
Constitution of India hasn’t inscribed India as federal nation, but in Article 1 of the constitution it is inserted as ‘union of states’.
This means that India is a union comprising of various states being integral part of it. States cannot break away from union, in contrary to that in a federation the state or any constituting body can come out of union explaining that India is not a complete federal govt as it combines the feature of federal and unitary govt making it a QUASI-FEDERAL SYSTEM.
FEDERAL FEATURES OF INDIAN UNION
As mentioned earlier government is at two levels namely, centre and state.
In the constitution of India, it is mentioned in the 7th schedule about the subjects that each level has jurisdiction in the manner of lists and those lists are-
. Union list- it contains all the matters on which only central government can make laws.
. State list- it contains all the matters in which only state government can make laws.
. Concurrent list- it contains all the matters in which central and state governments can make laws.
The Indian constitution is supreme, and no individual can challenge or destroy the basic structure of it.
Independent judiciary is another feature of federalism where lower and district courts are at bottom level, High courts at state level and supreme court at the top level.
In India the legislature is bicameral. It has houses namely, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha.
The upper house of parliament represents the states and is called as Rajya Sabha.
The lower house represents people and is called as Lok Sabha.
The federal features explained above illustrates the federal nature of the constitution of India. Division of powers between state and central government and supremacy of judiciary shows the absolute power that supreme court has and that its decision is supreme and binding upon all courts. However, power given to central government have more weight in comparison to state government.
Not only the common federal features but Indian constitution has some distinctive federal features from all other federal countries-
. No Dual Citizenship- unlike other states India doesn’t entertain dual citizenship, there is only one common citizenship and no state citizenship.
. Single Constitution- the constitution to all the people of India is similar and constant.
. In emergencies the constitution can become unitary as emergency holds at a national level when every citizen must be seen equal and have the same rights.
INDIA AS A QUASI- JUDICIAL COUNTRY
Like most of the features explains about the federal features of Indian Constitution, similarly it has some quasi- federal features of its own, they can be exclaimed as:
As the powers are divided between centre and state, but the illustrated and most of the powers are given to centre in comparison to state.
Any laws made by the state can be overridden by the parliament when there is a matter of national interest.
Residual and major taxation powers are vested with the central government.
Also, there are two houses in parliament, among them one represents the state which is called as Rajya Sabha. The parliament does not represent states equally. The populous state has more representatives in Rajya Sabha than less populous.
In India, citizens are allotted only one citizenship. But in true federal states they have dual citizenship, firstly the citizenship of province and then the nation.
RIGIDITY AND LEGALISM OF FEDERALISM
Article 246- The Indian constitution (IC), distributes legislative powers between union and state. Union can legislate powers inserted in list 1 and concurrent issues can be legislated in list 3 of the schedule 7 of IC.
Article 249- IC gives the power to parliament with respect to any matter of state list with national interest.
Article 250- IC vests power in parliament in state list if any proclamation of emergency is issued.
Article 252- The parliament can legislate two or more states with the consent of states as inscribed under the IC.
Article 352, 353- explains about the provision of proclamation of emergency and its effects.
Article 368- explains about the provisions regarding the amendments of constitution.
It was clearly understood that IC is both unitary and federal according to the requirement of time and circumstances. During the normal times it works like federal and in time of war or emergency it is unitary.
Few cases in reference to federalism in India-
. STATE OF RAJASTHAN VS UNION OF INDIA, 1977
Former chief justice Beg, called COI as “amphibian”, because our constitution creates a central govt which is amphibian in sense, that it can be either federal or unitary according to the need of situation and circumstances.
. PRADEEP JAIN VS UOI
Apex court exclaimed a non- traditionalistic approach towards the federal concept in unified legal system. As India is not a federal state in traditional sense but has ceded undoubtedly federal features.
. GANGA RAM MOOLCHANDANI VS STATE OF RAJASTHAN
Supreme court held that, IC is federal in form and is marked by traditional characteristics of federal features namely supremacy of constitution and division of powers.
Therefore, Indian government is neither purely unitary nor federal but a quasi-federal state. But it consists of the essence of federalism making it different from various other nations.
REFERENCES
- Lawpage.in
- Lawctopus.com
- Blogipleaders.com
- Britannica.com
- Constitution of India- V.N. SHUKLA
- Constitution of India- H.M. SEERVAI.
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