States of the Nation Report

The demand for new states are suddenly flying thick and fast. What does the Constitution say about this?

The Telangana episode has triggered demands for the creation of new states in several parts of the country. Besides Telangana, some of the other demands are for Bundelkhand, Harit Pradesh, Poorvanchal, Gorkhaland, Greater Cooch Behar, Vidarbha, Mithilanchal, Saurashtra, and Coorg.

(Few of these demands are on linguistic basis. Most such demands arise from the belief that small states allow better regional development)

In this regard, India’s Constitution is pretty liberal in altering the boundaries of existing states. It vests unlimited power with the Centre in this matter. Such are the constitutional provisions that legal experts call India “an indestructible Union of destructible states”. According to Article 3 of the Constitution, ‘Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new states on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.’ As per the Constitution, Parliament can create a new state by a simple majority. The only condition provided in it is that a bill seeking a division of the state must to be moved by the President, and before doing so, he/she has to seek the view of the affected state legislature. The President, however, is neither bound by the state legislature’s view nor required to wait endlessly on this count. If the state legislature fails to provide its view within a stipulated period of time, the President can proceed to introduce the bill. Again, the span of time within which the state legislature is to furnish its view is to be fixed by the President.

The Constitution, thus, simply does not provide any guarantee for the territorial integrity of states. Even the Supreme Court is unlikely to intervene in this matter, and has unequivocally upheld this almost absolute power of Parliament.

As the demand for new states assumes vigour, the possibility of setting up a second State Reorganisation Commission (SRC), which would examine all demands and provide solutions to the Government, has increased substantially.

The first SRC was set up in 1950s, which led to the formation of southern states on the basis of linguistic division. The 28 states currently in India have, to a large extent, assuaged the need for linguistic identity. Several new demands, however, are a result of uneven growth within states and a perception that splitting large states into smaller chunks will improve administration by bringing power centres closer to the people.

About The Author

Dhirendra K. Jha