Sarkaria Commission

• Sarkaria Commission was set up by the central government of India in 1983, headed by Justice Rajender Singh Sarkaria.
• It was set up to examine the balance between the central and the state government.
• It also examines their relationship along with suggesting changes in the framework of the Constitution of India.

Few Sarkaria Commission Recommendations are as follows

1. The Centre should consult the state while making laws on the Concurrent List.
2. CM should be consulted in the Governor’s appointment.
3. Governor should have a fixed tenure, He cannot dismiss the Council of ministers when it commands a majority.
4. Commission of enquiry against state ministers can only be set up after Parliament’s demand.
5. Surcharge on Income tax should not be levied by the Centre except for a specific purpose.
6. The centre should have powers to deploy armed forces even without the consent of the states however state should be consulted.

Punchhi Commission

• The Punchhi Commission was constituted by the Government of India in 2007 as a Commission on Centre-State relations.
• It was chaired by Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi who was formerly the Chief Justice of India.
• Main Purpose of the Commission are as follows

1. To study if there is a need to set up a Central law enforcement agency to take up suo moto crimes investigation with inter-state or international ramifications with grave implications on national security.
2. To examine the role and responsibility of the centre with respect to the states in the effective devolution of autonomy and powers to the Panchayati Raj institutions and other local bodies.
3. To support independent planning and budgeting at the district level and linking Central assistance of states to States’ performance.
4. To examine the relevance of separate taxes for freeing inter-state trade to establish a unified domestic market.
5. In brief, it can be said that the chief objective of the Commission was to examine the prospect of “giving sweeping powers to the Union government to deploy central forces in the states and the investigation of crimes affecting national security.”

Inter-state council

• Art 263 contemplates the establishment of an inter-state council to effect coordination between the states and between centre and states
• The President can establish such a council at any time it appears to him that public interest would be served by its establishment.
• He is also authorized to define the nature of duties to be performed by such a council and its organization and procedure
• Constitution also defines certain duties for the council
• The ISC is the only multilateral centre-state forum that operates directly within the framework of the Constitution (Article 263 (b) and (c)) where topics like the GST and contemporary issues like disaster management, terrorism and internal security can be taken up.
• The constitutional backing of ISC puts the states on more solid footing—an essential ingredient in building the atmosphere of cooperation needed for calibrating centre-state relations.
• It is just a recommendatory body to investigate and discuss subjects, in which some or all of the states or the Central government have a common interest.
• The Inter-state council is not a permanent constitutional body for coordination between the states and Central government.

Zonal Councils

• The Zonal Councils are the statutory (and not the constitutional) bodies.
• They are established by an Act of the Parliament, that is, States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
• The act divided the country into five zones- Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern and provided a zonal council for each zone.
• While forming these zones, several factors have been taken into account which include: the natural divisions of the country, the river systems and means of communication, the cultural and linguistic affinity and the requirements of economic development, security and law and order.
• In addition to the above mentioned Zonal Councils, a North-Eastern Council was created by a separate Act of Parliament, the North-Eastern Council Act of 1971.
• Its members include Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim.

NITI Aayog

• Planning Commission was replaced by a new institution – NITI AAYYOG on January 1, 2015 with emphasis on ‘Bottom –Up’ approach to envisage the vision of Maximum Governance, Minimum Government, echoing the spirit of ‘Cooperative Federalism’.
• Chairperson: Prime Minister
• Vice-Chairperson: To be appointed by Prime-Minister
• Governing Council: Chief Ministers of all states and Lt. Governors of Union Territories.
• To address specific regional issues, Comprising Chief Ministers and Lt. Governors Chaired by Prime Minister or his nominee.
• Adhoc Membership: 2 member in ex-officio capacity from leading Research institutions on rotational basis.
• Ex-Officio membership: Maximum four from Union council of ministers to be nominated by Prime minister.
• Chief Executive Officer: Appointed by Prime-minister for a fixed tenure, in rank of Secretary to Government of India.
• Special Invitees: Experts, Specialists with domain knowledge nominated by Prime-minister.
• The Aayog planned to come out with three documents — 3-year action agenda, 7-year medium-term strategy paper and 15-year vision document.