PRIME MINISTER TO INAUGRUATE INTER-STATE
COUNCIL MEETING AT SRINAGAR
The eighth meeting
of the Inter-State Council is being held at Srinagar on August
27-28, 2003. The meeting is being held at the prestigious Sher-i-Kashmir
International Conference Centre (SKICC) on the banks of the famous
Dal Lake. It is the first time that a meeting of the Inter-State
Council is held outside New Delhi since its inception in 1990.
The two-day meeting
will be chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
and will be attended by the Deputy Prime Minister, Shri L.K. Advani
and Union Ministers who are members of the Council. The States
will be represented by the respective Chief Ministers/Senior Ministers
and the Union Territories by their respective Chief Ministers
and Lt. Governors/Administrators.
The agenda of
the meeting includes the remaining recommendations of the Sarkaria
Commission relating to Administrative Relations, Emergency Provisions
and Deployment of Union Armed Forces. Issues relating to Contract
labour/Contract appointments, and Good Governance will also be
discussed at the meeting. The meeting will conclude on August
28, 2003 with the concluding remarks of the Prime Minister and
Vote of Thanks by the Deputy Prime Minister.
A Press Briefing
is scheduled to be held at 12.15 p.m. on August 28, 2003 at the
Media Centre in the Centaur Hotel adjacent to the SKICC.
The Inter-State
Council was set up in May 1990 under Article 263 of the Constitution,
pursuant to the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission on
Centre-State relations. The Council consists of the Prime Minister
as Chairman and the Chief Ministers of all the States and the
Union Territories with Legislative Assemblies, Lt. Governors/Administrators
of other Union Territories and six Union Cabinet Ministers including
the Deputy Prime Minister as Members. It also includes two other
Union Cabinet Ministers as Permanent invitees.
The duties of
the Council include investigation and discussion of any subject
of common and general interest among the States and between the
Union and States.
The Council has
been mainly considering recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission
on Centre-State Relations. The Commission made 247 recommendations
on different aspects of Centre-State relation. The Inter-State
Council in its seven meetings held so far, has considered 230
recommendations. These relate to Legislative Relations, Role of
Governor, Reservation of Bills, All India Services, Financial
Relations, Economic and Social Planning, Industries, Agriculture
and so on. The remaining 17 Recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission
are included in the Agenda for the Eighth Meeting and will be
considered in the meeting of the Council being held here. The
Seventh Meeting was held in New Delhi on November 16, 2001.
