Punchhi Commission

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the 11th Standing Committee meeting of the Inter-State Council in Delhi on Sunday. The meeting will discuss the recommendations of the Punchhi Commission on Centre-State Relations.

The Punchhi Commission, notified in 2005, submitted its report in 2010. gktoday.in writes that the Commission desired that there should be a mechanism whereby the centre consults states before introducing a bill on concurrent list items.

Once a bill is passed in legislative assembly and then reserved by the governor for president’s consideration, President applies pocket veto in several cases. No communication is given to the state which is baffling for states. Thus, there should be mechanism so that president communicates his decision in reasonable time {6 months).

There should be clear guidelines for the appointment of chief ministers, so that there is sort of regulation on discretionary power of Governor. A pre-poll alliance should be treated as one political party, because that lays down the order of precedence that ought to be followed by the governor in case of a hung house.

The commission recommended that the person who is slated to be a Governor should not have participated in active politics at even local level for at least a couple of years before his appointment. State chief minister should have a say in the appointment of governor.

There should be provisions for impeachment of the Governor by the state legislature along the same lines as that of President. The commission recommended for “localising emergency provisions” under Articles 355 and 356, contending that localised areas — either a district or parts of a district — be brought under Governor’s rule instead of the whole state.

The duration of such an emergency provision should however not be of duration of more than three months. For internal security, commission recommended creation of an overriding structure on the lines of the US Home­land Security department, giving more teeth to the National Integration Council. This council should meet at least once a year.

In case of any communal incident, a delegation of five members of the Council, who would be eminent persons, should visit the affected area within two days. The commission recommended that the Communal Violence Bill should be amended to allow deployment of Central forces without the state’s consent for a short period, adds gktoday.in.