Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Inter State Council (ISC) on Saturday to discuss the recommendations made by the Puncchi Commission on Centre-State relations.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj along with Chief Ministers — Amarinder Singh of Punjab, Manik Sarkar of Tripura, Naveen Patnaik of Odisha and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh — would also be present at the meeting.
The Punchhi Commission, which was notified in 2005, submitted its report in 2010. Its recommendations pertaining to national security, communal harmony, Centre-State financial relations and planning are expected to be discussed.
The Commission in its report had said that ‘National Security’ as a subject was not specifically listed in any of the three Lists, i.e. the Union, the State or the Concurrent List. “The subject of Security under the Article 352 and under the Emergency Provisions in Part XVIII of the Constitution has been assigned to the Union Government. Though it is an overriding executive power of the Union, in Constitutional practice, however, ‘Security’ is a subject in which the States and the Union have a common interest and are expected to act in a co-ordinated manner,” the report had said.
The Commission also said that in case of communal riots, which has a potential of causing widespread violence within a territory, “the use of Article 355 may be in order.” “A clarificatory line in this, regard, if required, may be inserted making the provision explicitly clear that the Centre can depute Paramilitary Forces to such trouble spots in exceptional circumstances even if a request from the State Government is not received. The aim has to be to ensure quick control of the situation, bring it back to normal, hand over the area to the local administration as quickly as possible and then withdraw the Central forces,” the Commission said.
