oppn parties Federalism Lessons From The Supreme Court

News Snippets

  • For the first time ever, Mukesh Ambani buys a 29% stake in Gautam Adani's Mahan Energen, a subsidiary of Adani Power to source 500MW of electricity from the company's power plant in MP
  • Stocks continue to rise on Thursday - Sensex gains 639 points to 73635 and Nifty 203 points to 22326
  • Golf - Indian Open: 3 Indians at tied 14th as Joost Luiten takes the lead with a wonderful 7-under 65
  • IPL: RR beat DC by 12 runs as Riyan Parag (84 off just 45 balls) shines
  • SP drops two candidates owing allegiance to Azam Khan from Rampur and Moradabad
  • In Assam, a controversy erupted after a picture of UPPL leader Benjamin Basumatary, lying on a stack of Rs 500 notes circulated on social media. UPPL is an ally of the BJP
  • AAP's Jalandhar-West MP Sushil Kumar Rinku joins the BJP. He was the only AAP Lok Sabha MP
  • Supreme Court dismisses Centre's plea to review its 2023 verdict in the PMLA case
  • Close save for passengers as they remain unhurt after the wings of two planes graze at Kolkata airport. Pilots derostered and inquiry ordered by DGCA
  • Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh gets notice from the EC as well as the BJP for making ugly remarks about Mamata Banerjee's parentage
  • Sadanand Vasanth Date, who faught terrorists in the 26/11 attack and was awarded the Preisent's Police medal, has been appointed the head of the NIA
  • Centre will borrow Rs 7.5L cr in the first six months of FY25, nearly 50% of the target for the full year
  • 25 stocks, including SBI, will see same day trade settlements from today in the world's fastest settlement mode in both BSE and NSE
  • Stocks recover smartly on Wednesday: Sensex rises 526 points to 72996 and Nifty 118 points to 22123
  • Tennis: Rohan Bopanna-Matthew Ebden reached the semifinals of the Miami Open
Delhi Lt Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena says government cannot be run from jail, hints at President's Rule in the capital ////// In a dangerous incident, the wings of two planes grazed while taxiing on the runway at Kolkata airport, all passengers were safe but DGCA ordered an inquiry and the pilots were derostered
oppn parties
Federalism Lessons From The Supreme Court

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-05-12 08:07:35

About the Author

Sunil Garodia The India Commentary view

Two Supreme Court judgments on Thursday, though on different subjects, had the common thread of federalism. In both the judgments, the role of the representative of the Centre in the state - the Lieutenant Governor (LG) in case of Delhi and the Governor in case of Maharashtra - was under the scanner. The court was severely critical of Maharashtra governor B S Koshyari for entering the 'political thicket' and being 'an arbiter of intra-party disputes' in ordering Uddhav Thackeray to take the floor test without "objective material" in his hand. It also castigated the Centre for taking over executive powers of an elected government in Delhi through the LG and said that it would "completely abrogate the federal system of governance and the principle of representative democracy".

If governments at the Centre wish to control duly elected governments in the state or place hurdles in their path, they are going against the will of the people. Since the will of the people, as expressed in who they choose to govern them, is separate and distinct for the Centre and the state, it is clear that the people do not want the Centre to control the state if they have elected a different party to rule in the state. This is a simple theory and if the ruling party at the Centre gets comfortable with it, the federal system will run smoothly. The desire for double-engine governments must be expressed to the people and if they reject it, it should not be, and cannot be, put in place by force. Otherwise, having separate election for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies loses its meaning.