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The Legal Analyst ISSN: 2231-5594 Volume 1, 2011, pp.

144-145

THE INDIAN FEDERAL SYSTEM: AN OVERVIEW


Shashi Kant Tripathi*
Abstract: The gist of federal feature is that the two Governments i.e. Union and States should be working in independent and co-ordinate manner and not one running as the subsidiary to other. Very first article of our Constitution says that India i.e. Bharat still be the Union of States. Almost all the federal characters are there in our constitution e.g. Dual Polity, Distribution of Power, Written Constitution, Supreme Constitution and Rigid Constitution and hence constitution of India is absolutely federal. Various constitutional provisions are there which are in consonance of federal character. Some emergency provisions are th ere which seems to be a diversion from federal nature but it is not the same rather it is the merit of our apex norm. The proposed paper discusses meaning of federalism and the federalism of various countries and also some deviation from federal nature. Key Words : Govern ment, Federal System, India.

Introduction: The word federalism owes its origin from Latin term foedus means covenant or league or treaty or pact. As Friedrich describes it as any kind of association of autonomous units Prof. A.V. Dicey has quoted that a federal form of state required for its formation two conditions: 1. There exists a body of countries. So closely connected by locality, by history, by race or the like as to be capable of bearing, in the eyes of their in habitants, on impress of common nationality. 2. The existence of very peculiar state of sentiment among the inhabitants of countries which it is proposed to unite. They must desire union and must not desire unity. 1 Further, Prof. A.V. Diecy Law of the Constitution said that, federalism seeks to reconcile unity with multiplicity, centralization with decentralization and nationalism with localism. A Federal constitution establishes a dual polity as it comprises two level of Government1. The Central and, 2. The Regional Regional Govt. called(a) State Govt. (U.S.A. Australia, India) (b) Provincial Govt. (Canada). Constitution is of two types(i) Unitary (Srilanka, China etc.) (ii) Federal (USA, Australia, Canada, India)a. Classical Federalism (USA) b. Co-operative Federalism (India). The concept of co-operative federalism has been worked out in number of constitutional provisions like, distribution of power, emergency provisions etc. Prof. K.C. Wheare has said Indian constitution as quasi-federal and said it is Union not federation. But the motivation behind the substitution of word Union for the word federation appears to be that the framers of the constitution taken into consideration so many diversities of language, culture, cast, festivals and possibilities of the tendency to secede state. India constitution contains same novel provisions which are not to be found in other federations. Views of Constitution Makers Following are some views of our constitution makers in C.A.D.1. It is better to adopt unitary constitution. 2 2. Our constitution should be rigid federation. 3
* Research Schol ar, Facul ty of Law, B anaras Hindu Uni versity, Varanasi, INDIA.
1 2

K.N. Singh, Federalism and the Constitution of U.S., (1963) Patna Law Journal at 121 Brijeswer Prasad in Constituent Assembly of India.

2011]

INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND DISASTER

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3. We have to keep the centre powerful in Indian federalism. 4 Juristic Opinion 1. Raghawachari- said after lifting of veil it is unitary one. 2. Prof. K.C.wheare- It is quasi-federal i.e. unitary state with subsidiary federal feature rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary features. 3. Jennnings-Federation with strong centralizing tendency. 4. D.D. Basu-Neither complete federal nor unitary rather combination of both. 5. Prof. M.P. Jain- Absolutely federal. 6. H.M.Seervai -Almost all the features of federal constitution on which the Supreme Court is realized upon are present in our constitution and hence our constitution is undisputedly federal. 5 7. Prof. G.P. Verma (Banaras Hindu University)-is of the view that Indian Constitution is federal in toto. Concluding Observation: Last but not the least our Constitution have almost all the characteristics of federal system6 i.e. (i) Dual polity (2) Distribution of power (3) Written constitution (4) Supremacy of the constitution (5) A rigid constitution, and hence it is complete and undisputable federal as fit for Indian Union.

3 4

Gadgil in Constituent Assembly of India. Pt. J.L. Nehru, Dr. Ambedkar in Constituent Assembly of India. 5 M .P. Jain, Constitution Law of India. (3rd Ed.) at at 1894. 6 Y. Satya Naryan, Comparative Federalism, vol. 2, 1989 Central India Law Quarterly at 236

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