FMs of six states petition Prez against 15th Finance Comm

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 17

Upset over the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission, Finance Ministers from six states and UTs, including Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, today met President Ram Nath Kovind to lodge their protest.

Besides Punjab, Ministers from Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry and Delhi — all ruled by opposition parties — met the President and submitted a memorandum on the changes they want in the terms of reference.

In the memorandum, they said the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission raise serious concerns and they are qualitatively different from that of the previous commission.

“Some of the changes infringe on the provisions of the Constitution. Some others are disruptive of well-settled federal fiscal arrangements in India. Yet other changes constitute technical errors,” they said in the memorandum.

The memorandum further said these changes will restrict the states from fulfilling their Constitutional obligations as listed in the Seventh Schedule.

“They will also prevent states from working effectively towards independent and distinct goals and aspirations within the overall Constitutional framework. They will thus further weaken cooperative federalism in India.”

The southern states, for some time, have been complaining about the change in the year of the census used in the terms of reference to 2011 from 1971, as this will impact the share of taxes they receive from the Centre.