Panel on Centre-state relations gets extension

NEW DELHI: The commission set up to take a fresh look at Centre-State relations was on Friday granted a nine-month extension up to March 31 next year. This was decided at a meeting of the Union Cabinet, Union home minister P Chidambaram told newspersons after the meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The Commission, headed by Justice M M Punchhi, was set up in 2007 to look into new issues of Centre-State relations in view of the far-reaching changes that have taken place in the polity and economy since the Sarkaria Commission had last looked into the matter.

The Punchhi panel, which was asked to submit its report within two years, was given the task to review the working of the existing arrangements between the Centre and the states as per the Constitution and study various pronouncements of the courts with regard to powers, functions and responsibilities in all spheres.

The Sarkaria Commission was appointed in 1983 by the late Indira Gandhi to look into a whole gamut of issues pertaining to centre-state relations. Its terms of reference required it to ���examine and review the working of the existing arrangements between the Union and States in regard to powers, functions and responsibilities in all spheres and recommend such changes or other measures as may be appropriate���.

It had to bear in mind the social and economic developments that had taken place over the years and to bear in mind ���the unity and integrity of the country���.