Punjab: ‘Shifting subjects between Lists is constitutional rampage’, says govt

The Punjab government’s stand on the issue was conveyed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal who attended 11th Inter State Council meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday on behalf of his father and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal.

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The government said that a “popular government” should be allowed to complete its full term and in case there are some issues, Centre should assist states to tackle those points, said an official associated with drafting state government’s response.

Sukhbir also raised the issued pertaining to appointment of Governor and said the post should not be kept vacant for more than a month. He reiterated his state’s demand for Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas.

During his address, Sukhbir Badal said that till the demand for Chandigarh was met, the decision of appointing officials from Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40 percent in Chandigarh should be implemented in letter and spirit. Punjab also rued that state was also losing in terms of revenue it deserved to get from Chandigarh under the existing arrangement.

Sukhbir said, “Cutting across party lines there was widespread consensus that the trend towards centralization of authority was still continuing”. He emphasised that states should be given much greater operational freedom to choose and finance development priorities of their people.

“The most dangerous exhibition of this tendency is seen in how the Centre has been quietly shifting subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List and from the Concurrent to the Union List which amounts to constitutional rampage,” he added.

On river waters, Sukhbir said Punjab did not have a drop of water to share. “The average ground water table in Punjab has declined from 7.34 m in 1973 to 15.33 m in 2015,” he said. “If allocations are made on the basis of environmental impact and accepted water laws, SYL canal would not be required, as not even a drop of water is spare with Punjab to run the SYL canal”.