A growing Union-state power imbalance

The exercise of legislative power by statutory regulatory authorities undermines federalism and needs to be corrected

- K P KRISHNAN

The Constitution of India divides the work of the state into four parts: (a) The Union list, (b) the state list, (c) the concurrent list, which is a joint responsibility of the Union and the states, and (d) Schedules 11 and 12, which define the role of village and city-level governments. We often think that matters in the Union list are fully under the purview of the Union government and the Lok Sabha.

A moment's reflection will show that this is not the case. The Constitution envisioned a bicameral legislature. In addition to the Lok Sabha, there is also the Rajya Sabha. The Rajya Sabha is composed of "representatives of the states" who are elected by the members of the states' legislative bodies. The Rajya Sabha is formed out of all state legislatures through a system of proportional representation.

Under the Constitution of India, conferment of coercive powers to government agencies must be authorised by Parliament. Other than Money Bills, all laws must be approved by both the Lok Sabha (which has direct elections) and the Rajya Sabha (which reflects the views of political parties of the states). In this sense, the Union does not stand pristine and aloof from the working of the states. The electoral structure of all state legislative assemblies also shapes all parliamentary law.

The contours of Indian federalism were intensely discussed in the Constituent Assembly, leading to this system of checks and balances that was put into place to avoid the excesses that come from concentrated power.

Union level regulators changed this

In this setting, we saw the rise of statutory regulatory authorities (SRAs). Today, there are over 20 SRAs at the Union level in India, each empowered by law to create and enforce law (called "regulations") in their respective domain.