With the death of Justice R S Sarkaria and S R Bommai, India has lost two strong and well-known votaries of federalism. The emergence of strong regional political parties and greater say for states in national affairs can be attributed to them as they helped define the true nature of relations between the Union and states under the Constitution.

While Justice Sarkaria clearly laid down the extent of the Union’s powers in context of states, Bommai’s fight for enforcement of these led to well-defined guidelines by the Supreme Court, putting a strong check on the Centre’s arbitrary exercise of powers.

The scheme of the Indian Constitution before the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission —- set up in 1983 to examine Centre-state relations —- remained unitary both in nature and spirit, paying only lip service to federal character. The Union Government had an upper hand over states, which remained at the mercy of the Centre in matters of financial, executive or legislative powers, with the threat of President’s Rule under Article 356 hanging like a Damocle’s sword on their existence.

Justice Sarkaria held this to be a mockery of the true spirit of the Constitution and recommended that powers under Article 356 have been given to the Centre for a well-defined purpose and should be used as a last measure, when all available alternatives have failed to prevent a breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in a state.

“The Constitution framers conceived these provisions as more than a mere grant of overriding powers to the Union over the states. They regarded them as a bulwark of the Constitution, an ultimate assurance of maintaining or restoring representative governments in states, responsible to the people. They expected that these extraordinary provisions would be called into operation rarely, in extreme cases, as a last resort when all alternative correctives fail. Despite the hopes and expectations so emphatically expressed by the framers, in the last 37 years, Article 356 has been brought into action no less than 75 times,” Justice Sarkaria observed in his report.

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