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State & UTs

Part I of the Indian Constitution consists of Articles 1 - 4 on the

THE UNION AND ITS TERRITORY

Article 1

Name and territory of the Union —

1. India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States.
2. The States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule.
3. The territory of India shall comprise—
   1. the territories of the States;   
   2. the Union territories specified in the First Schedule; and
   3. such other territories as may be acquired

• The term 'Union' was suggested by Dr BR. Ambedkar, which indicates two things, first, Indian Union is not a result of agreement of independent and sovereign states, and second, the Units/States do not have right to secede from the Union.
• Union of India includes only the States which share federal powers with the Centre.
• While the Union of India includes only the States which share federal powers with the Centre, Territory of India includes the entire territory over which the sovereignty of the country is exercised.

• Apart from the States, the territory of the country includes the Union Territories and other territories acquired by India.

For the UT of Puducherry, the Parliament has by enacting a law {Pondicherry (Admn.)Act 1962} under Art.239A made provision for legislature etc.

By an Amendment to the constitution two new Articles 239AA & 239AB were inserted in 1992 providing for a legislature and a ministry for Delhi which has been named as National Capital Territory of Delhi by Art 239AA. Rests of the UTs are centrally administered areas to be governed by the President through an Administrator (Art 239-240).

Article 2

Admission or establishment of new States.—

Parliament may by law admit into the Union, or establish, new States on such terms and conditions as it thinks fit.

e.g. By 36^th Amendment Act, Sikkim had been admitted into union of states by amending the Ist and the IVth  Schedule, Art 80-81 and omitting Art 2A & X^th  Schedule ( which were inserted by 35^th Amendment Act 1975) w.e.f. 26-04-1975. Art 371F had, further been inserted to make special provisions relating to the administration of Sikkim.

Article 3

Formation of new States and alteration of areas, boundaries or names of existing States: — Parliament may by law—

Form a new State by separation of territory from any State or by uniting two or more States or parts of States or by uniting any territory to a part of any State;

          a. increase the area of any State;

          b. diminish the area of any State;

          c. alter the boundaries of any State;

          d. alter the name of any State.

• The Indian Constitution empowers the Parliament to alter the territory or names, etc, of the States without their consent or concurrence.
• Thus, it is clear that the very existence of a State depends upon the sweet will of the centre.
• The Articles 2, 3 and 4 thus demonstrate the flexibility of the Indian Constitution.
• By a simple majority and by ordinary legislative process, Parliament may form a new State or alter the boundaries etc of the existing States and thereby, can change the political map of India.

Provided that no Bill for the purpose shall be introduced in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President and unless, where the proposal contained in the Bill affects the area, boundaries or name of any of the States, the Bill has been referred by the President to the Legislature of that State for expressing its views thereon within such period as may be specified in the reference or within such further period as the President may allow and the period so specified or allowed has expired.

 Article 4

Laws made under articles 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the First and the Fourth Schedules and supplemental, incidental and consequential matters.—

1. Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary to give effect to the provisions of the law and may also contain such supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions (including provisions as to representation in Parliament and in the Legislature or Legislatures of the State or States affected by such law) as Parliament may deem necessary.
2. No such law as aforesaid shall be deemed to be an amendment of this Constitution for the purposes of article 368.

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.
• It suggested security, unity and economic prosperity of the nation as the criteria of the reorganization. The Congress Working Committee accepted its recommendations in 1949, but the demand for the linguistic reorganisation of the States persisted in the southern States particularly in the Telugu speaking areas. As the agitation took a violent turn in the Telugu speaking areas, the Congress conceded the reorganization of the Telugu speaking area in the State of Andhra Pradesh in 1953.

To make an exhaustive study of the problem, the Government of India set up the State Reorganization Commission in 1953 which was headed by Fazal Ali.

State Reorganization Act:

Chairman: Fazal Ali

Members
1. Hriday Nath Kunzru

2. KN Panikkar

• 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.

Reorganization of States:

• Andhra Pradesh: Created by the State of Andhra Pradesh Act, 1953 by carving out some areas from the State of Madras.
• Kerala: Created by the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. It comprised Travancore and Cochin
• Karnataka: Created from the Princely State of Mysore by the State Reorganisation Act, 1956. It has been renamed Karnataka in 1973.
• Gujarat and Maharashtra State of Bombay was divided into two States i.e., Maharashtra and Gujarat by the Bombay (Reorganisation) act.
• Nagaland: It was carved out from the State of Assam by the State of Nagaland Act 1962.
  Haryana: It was carved out from the State of Punjab by the Punjab (Reorganisation) Act, 1966
• Himachal Pradesh: The Union Territory of Himachal Pradesh was elevated to the status of State by the State of Himachal Pradesh Act, 1970.
• Meghalaya: First carved out as a sub-State within the State of Assam by 23rd Constitutional Amendment. 1969. Later, in 1971, it received the status of a full-fledged State by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
  Manipur and Tripura: Both these States were elevated from the status of Union Territories by the North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.
• Sikkim was given first the Status of Associate State by the 35th Constitutional amendment Act, 1974. It got the status of a full State in 1975 by the 36th Amendment Act, 1975.
• Mizoram: was elevated to the status of a full State by the State of Mizoram Act, 1986.
  Arunachal Pradesh: It received the status of a full State by the State of Arunachal Pradesh Act, 1986.
• Goa: Goa was separated from the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and was made a full-fledged State by the Goa, Daman and Diu Reorganisation Act, 1987. But Daman and Diu remained as Union Territory.
  Chhattisgarh: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Madhya Pradesh on November 1, 2000.
• Uttaranchal: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Uttar Pradesh on November 9, 2000.
• Jharkhand: Formed by the Constitutional Amendment Act 2000 by dividing Bihar on November 15, 2000.