Political Science, asked by aaryanbansal125, 1 year ago

How does the constitution clearly provide a three - fold distribution of legislative powers between the union government and state government

Answers

Answered by varun4567
1
BETWEEN UNION AND STATE
JANUARY 1, 2017
DISTRIBUTION OF POWERS BETWEEN UNION AND STATE
The main characteristic of a federal constitution is the distribution of powers between the union and the states. The Indian constitution provides for a new kind of federalism to meet India’s peculiar needs. In the matter of distribution of powers, the framers followed the pattern of the Government of India Act, 1935. Thus, predominance has been given to the union parliament over the state legislatures or assemblies regarding the distribution of legislative powers.

The legislative powers are subject to the scheme of distribution of powers between the union and state legislatures (as provided in three lists under the constitution), fundamental rights (i.e. legislative powers cannot contravene the fundamental rights) and other provisions of the constitution (articles 245-254).

There are three lists which provide for distribution of legislative powers under 7th Schedule to the constitution:-


(1) Union List (List 1) – It contains 97 items and comprises of the subjects which are of national importance and admit of uniform laws for the whole of the country. Only the union parliament can legislate with respect to these matters. For example, Defence, foreign affairs, banking, currency, union taxes, etc.

(2) State List (List 2) – It contains 66 items and comprises of subjects of local or state interest and thus lie within the legislative competence of the state legislatures, viz. public order and police, health, agriculture, forests, etc.

(3) Concurrent List (list 3) – It contains 47 items, with respect to which; both union parliament and the state legislature have a concurrent power of legislation. The concurrent list (not found in any federal constitution) was to serve as a device to avoid excessive rigidity to a two-fold distribution. It is a ‘twilight zone’, as for not so important matters, the states can take initiative, while for the important matters, the parliament can do so. Besides, the states can make supplementary laws in order to amplify the laws made by union parliament. The subjects include general laws and social welfare – civil and criminal procedure, marriage, contract, planning education, etc.
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