Alleging that certain elements of the terms of reference of the Fifteenth Finance Commission would affect the very fabric of equitable and just devolution of Central tax revenues to the States, DMK working president M.K. Stalin has called upon Chief Ministers of 10 States to join him in demanding immediate modifications.
He has also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that the modification was the only way to ensure that no injustice was done to States “in the manner of the devolution of taxes, which will almost certainly lead to grave discontent and unrest amongst those wronged by such actions.”
To reiterate his point, he has quoted terms of the commission that “it may (inter alia) consider proposing measurable performance-based incentives to efforts and progress made in moving towards replacement level of population growth and it shall use the population data of 2011 while making its recommendations.”
The letters with identical content have been sent to the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha, Puducherry, New Delhi and Tamil Nadu, besides the Prime Minister.
Mr. Stalin said these two terms of reference will negatively impact the allocations to many progressive States such as Tamil Nadu in a compound way.
Mr. Stalin said the drastic changes in the terms of references would reduce the distribution of Central revenues to the progressive States by a substantial margin, which he said would not only be a travesty of justice but also be construed as an ill-conceived effort to systematically divert resources to States, which have never made serious attempts at population control.
Cases registered
The Secretariat police filed an FIR against Mr. Stalin and 73 members of his party for protesting against the Ram Rajya Rath Yatra outside the Assembly-Secretariat complex.
The police also registered cases against them under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC.
