12th meeting of Standing Committee of Inter-State Council held

The 12th meeting of Standing Committee of Inter-State Council was held in New Delhi. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission on Centre-state relations. The meeting was chaired by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The members of the 12th standing committee include Sushma Swaraj (Minister of External Affairs), Arun Jaitley (Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs), Nitin Gadkari (Minister of Road, Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation),  and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawar Chand Gehlot. The Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh, who are the members of the Standing Committee, also attend the meeting.
The Standing Committee in 12th meeting discussed 118 recommendations contained in Volumes-III, IV and V and finalised its recommendations. This includes Subjects related to centre-state relations like GST, financial transfers from the centre to the states, Police reforms, migration etc.
Volumes-I & II were discussed during the eleventh meeting of the Standing Committee which was held in the month of April 2017, and Volumes-VI and VII will be discussed during the next meeting of the Standing Committee.
Finally, all the recommendations of the standing committee on Punchhi Commission’s report will then be placed before the Inter-State Council, headed by the Prime Minister.

About Interstate council

Inter State council is a constitutional body under Article 263 of the constitution. It was established by Presidential Order dated 28th May, 1990 on recommendation of Sarkaria Commission. The purpose of the Interstate council is to facilitate coordination between states and the centre.

Composition of Inter State Council

• The Council is headed by Prime Minister (Chairman).
• Besides, Chief Ministers of all states and UTs (having legislative Assembly) are its members.
• Six Union ministers of cabinet rank nominated by the Prime Minister are also members.

About standing committee of Interstate council

The standing committee of Interstate council is constituted under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister. Apart from Home minister the committee consists of 5 union cabinet ministers and 9 chief Ministers.
The key functions of standing committee include:

• To monitor the implementation of decisions taken on the recommendations of the Interstate Council an
• To process all matters relating to Centre State Relations before they are taken up for consideration in the inter-State Council.
• To consider any other matter referred to it by the Chairman/Interstate Council.

About Punchhi commission

Punchhi commission was constituted by the Central government on April 27, 2007 under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi to look into the new issues of Centre-state relations keeping in view the changes that have taken place in the polity and economy.  The Punchhi Commission had submitted its report in 7 volumes with 273 recommendations in 2010.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2017