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State Reorganization Act

Chairman: Fazal Ali Members

  1. Hriday Nath Kunzru
  2. KN Panikkar

Report

  • The Commission in its report, submitted in 1955, accepted the language as the basis of the reorganisation of the States.
  • It suggested the reorganisation of 27 States of various categories into 16 States and three Union Territories.
  • The State Reorganisation Act, 1956 was passed by the Parliament to give effect to the recommendations of the Commission.
  • Chhattisgarh (16 districts) is the rice bowl of the then Madhya Pradesh, but is economically backward. It has mineral resources that can make it economically viable. Madhya Pradesh, being the biggest state of the country, needed to be divided so that administrative problems and a feeling of neglect among the locals do not arise.
  • While it is true that the grievances are genuine and the demands need to be met, the concerns of the Federal government about other regions and ethnicities of the country raising similar demands must be understood.
  • Given the fact that ours is a federal system which is going through a process of democratic consolidation in times of transition, characterised by coalition governance, the option of creating new states needs to be considered with utmost caution, howsoever convincing the reasons for such creation may be.
  • The State of Jammu & Kashmir has been given special slalu, sund £ rArticle. 37Q, which became operative on November 17,1952. The separate Constitution of the State was drafted by the Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir and became effective on January 26,1957.
  • There are special provisions for the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra under Article 371, for the State of Nagaland under Article 371 A, for Assam
  • Parliament can form new States, alter the area, boundaries or names of the existing States by a law passed by a simple majority.
  • No Bills for the formation of new States or alteration of the boundaries or names of the existing States shall be introduced in either House of the Parliament, except orMhe recommendation of the President.
  • The President, before introducing the Bill in the Parliament, shall refer it to the concerned State Legislature for its opinion within a specified time limit.
  • If the State Legislature does not give its opinion within the specified time limit, the time limit may be extended.
  • The Bill may be introduced even if the opinion has not come.
  • The Parliament is not bound to accept or act upor the views of the State legjsjajujre.
  • It is not necessary to make fresh reference to the State Legislature every time on an amendment to the bill, proposed and accepted under Article 37IB and for Sikkim under Article 37 IF.

Reorganisation of States: Background

  • After independence, the demand for the reorganization of the States on the linguistic basis was raised from different regions.
  • The Constituent Assembly appointed the S K Dhar Commission in November 1947 to study the issue of the reorganisation of the States on linguistic basis.
  • The Congress, in its Jaipur session in 1948, appointed a three member committee to consider the recommendations of the Dhar Commission.
  • The Committee is popularly known as the JVP Committee after the names of its three members-Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitarammaiah.
  • The Committee rejected language as the basis for the reorganisation of the States.