Page 1 of 9
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 06 Issue 04
April 2018
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 109
A Review of the Federal Features of the Indian Constitution
Anjani Devi
H. No 553, VPO - Malvi
Tehsil – Julana, District – Jind, (HR)
E-mail: anjanijangra0408@gmail.com
Abstract: India is a union of states. According to Article 1st any state has no right to get
separate existence from the Indian federation. The framer of Indian constitution followed the
Canadian pattern with some slight modifications. However, the Govt. of India Act 1935 is a
remarkable document in the history of Indian constitution. Even in the constituent assembly
there were two great demands, that the constitution of India should be federal and centre should
be strong. Therefore, there are three lists: Union, State and Concurrent. More powers are given to
the centre to make it powerful. Emergency powers are also vested with the centre. Our federal
system attributes range of decentralization to minority rights. It is basically committed to non- centralization. Actually some of the scholars call it quasi federal. We should remember that our
federal system is cooperative in many forms. The present research paper highlights the federal
features of our constitution.
Keywords: Federalism, Indian Constitution, Supermacy, Division of Powers, Judiciary.
Introduction: The term ‘federalism’ has been widely used even by non-federal states which
have adopted a wide network of division and sharing of powers and responsibilities. It has been
adopted in many western modernized and non-western traditional societies, even though they
differ with each other on definition. Many developed states, mainly of the west believe that
federalism is a political response towards globalization of economy. On the contrary, the latter
do not agree to this formulation because of its immediate effect on the sovereignty of the state. In
other words, the reality of unity in diversity and vice versa which is founded upon two viable
principles-federalism and pluralism, is validity in force holding a federal nation together.
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European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 06 Issue 04
April 2018
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 110
Structurally defined federalism is ‘Political structure of unity in diversity, in which both the
values of unity and diversity are equally legitimized, respected and linked on an overarching
political system.’ While this definition of federalism misses functional aspect of federal system,
it underscores the facts and the processes involved in the devisal of a federal system. The
dynamics of federal system are hinted by the facts and the processes.
Federalism is generally read as a text of modern polity and civic community. The text of
modern federalism to which many American scholars have endorsed, needs more interpretative
feasibility to take up the matters in complex country like India where pure form of modern
federalism will remain hardly operational reality. Federalism may reasonably be made
meaningful provided existing societal realities are taken into consideration. Some have opted for
federalism as an important part of integrative policies but many have assigned federalism simply
with administrative responsibilities. The former rests with required political culture involving
both society and governmental agencies whereas the latter restricts it to deal with inter- governmental relations. Similarly, they are inextricably linked with the values of consensus
(Voluntary) and conformity (policing) respectively.
Federalism has shown its dynamism in uniting diversities in a federal fraternity. There are
examples of how divided societies opted for federal arrangements. Some gradually turned from
confederation to federation. On the other hand, adoption of the federal polity seemed
unimpressive and ineffective in some parts of the world. Similarly, some have taken federalism
as a kind of ideology to foster unity in diversity whereas others have maintained a lot of
reservations over its uniting merit. However, it does not mean something fundamentally wrong
with the debate on federalism. But at the same time, federalism may not be considered as an all
season package. As a result, a federal polity can be found successfully rooted in some particular
social soils.
Generally, federalism comprises of constitutionally assigned powers and autonomy at the
respective levels, sub-national representation within the federal policy-making institutions,
written Constitution, independent Judiciary to work as an umpire and provisions for regulating
inter-governmental arrangements. Daniel J. Elazar opinioned that having federal principles do
Page 3 of 9
European Journal of Business &
Social Sciences
Available at https://ejbss.org/
ISSN: 2235-767X
Volume 06 Issue 04
April 2018
Available online: https://ejbss.org/ P a g e | 111
not necessarily mean establishing a federal system in the conventional sense of a federal state.
Federalism provides many options for organisation of political authority and powers.
The term federation is derived from the Latin word “Foedus” which means treaty or
agreement. Thus, a State, which is the result of a treaty or agreement, is a federation. According
to Nathan, Federation is an aggregate of smaller States which while retaining each its separate
identity and united together for common purpose in a nation which theoretically at least is
indissoluble. Dicey says, Federation means the distribution of the force of the States among a
number of co-ordinate bodies each originating in and controlled by the Constitution. According
to Birch, A federal system of government is one in which there is a division of powers between
one general and several regional authorities, each of which, in its own sphere, is co-ordinance
with the others, and each of which acts directly on the people through its own administrative
agencies. Again according to Dicey, A federal State is a political contrivance intended to
reconcile national unity and power with the maintenance of state rights.
Thus, different scholars emphasize different things for a true federation. However, almost
all the scholars agree that for a federation to exist there should be ‘division of powers’ between
the general and regional Governments, and the constitutional autonomy of the both. It means that
the jurisdictional sphere of both the Governments should be clearly defined. A Government
having no division of powers is not federal. It can at the most be unitary government with de- centralization of powers.
Nature of Indian Federalism: K.C. Wheare characterized India as a ‘quasi’ federation and thus
deviated from the classical model of regional and sub-regional autonomy. He re-casted
federalism in a strong-Centre framework in the wake of partition of the Indian subcontinent, that
led to fear of centrifugal forces in a multicultural society. He perhaps failed to realize that in less
than half-a-country, federalism would see many more experiments. Indeed, federalism was first
devised as a system of government aimed at arrangement of political power at different levels of
community as well as a nation. As different societies, nations and states have experimented with
various modes of social, political, cultural and economics coexistence to accommodate social
plurality, the federal design too has been experimented with-specific factors. Whenever two or
