Zonal councils

Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Zonal Councils are five advisory bodies set up in 1957 under the States Reorganisation Act 1956: Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern. In each one, the Union and the states of a region meet to talk about shared problems and settle them [3]. They are statutory bodies, which means an Act of Parliament created them, not the Constitution.

They matter because they give neighbouring states a regular place to talk and agree. This is an important tool of cooperative federalism, where the Centre and the states solve problems together instead of fighting.

Explanation

How they are set up

• Legal basis: sections 15–22 (Part III) of the States Reorganisation Act 1956 [3].
• Number: five councils, set up in 1957 [3]:
• Northern
• Central
• Eastern
• Western

• Southern

• Nature: they are statutory and only advisory.

• They can discuss problems and make recommendations.
• Their advice does not bind the Union or any state.
• They are not courts and cannot give binding decisions on disputes.

Who sits on them

• Chair: the Union Home Minister chairs all five councils [3].
• Members: [3]
• the Chief Ministers of the states in the zone;

• the Administrators / Lieutenant Governors of the Union Territories (UTs) in the zone.

• Vice-chair: one of the zone's Chief Ministers.

• This post rotates every year, so each state gets a turn [3].

• Standing Committees: each council also works through Standing Committee meetings, which are held separately from the full council meetings [4].

What they discuss

• Border disputes between states.
• Linguistic minorities: people whose language differs from the main language of the state they live in.
• Inter-state transport.
• Internal security.
• Other shared regional problems.

Limits

• They give advice only. Nothing they say can be enforced.
• They work only if meetings are actually held. For long periods they met rarely (see below).
• The north-eastern states are covered by the North Eastern Council (NEC), not by these five councils.

In the Constitution and practice

• Not in the Constitution: the Constitution does not mention Zonal Councils. They come from an ordinary law, the States Reorganisation Act 1956 [3].

• That Act redrew state borders on the basis of language. The councils were created alongside it so that the new states would keep working together.

• Sarkaria Commission (1983–88): among its 247 recommendations [1], it said the zonal councils should be revived, because they had become inactive.

• Meetings before and after 2014:
• In the 7 years before 2014, only 5 meetings were held [5].
• From 2014 to December 2023, 55 meetings were held [4]:
  • 26 were Zonal Council meetings;
  • 29 were Standing Committee meetings.
• Example: the 26th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council was held at Patna in December 2023 [4].

• Example: the 29th meeting of the Southern Zonal Council was held at Tirupati in November 2021 [5].

• Link to the Inter-State Council (ISC): the Zonal Councils work at the level of a region. The ISC works at the national level under Art. 263. It was set up by a Presidential Order of 28 May 1990 [1] and has met only 11 times, the last on 16 July 2016 [2]. In recent years the Zonal Councils have met much more often than the ISC.

• NEC in the North-East:
• The NEC was set up under the North-Eastern Council Act 1971 [6].
• The 2002 amendment made it a regional planning body and added Sikkim as its 8th member state [6][S8b].
• Since 2018, the Union Home Minister has been its ex-officio chairman [S9b].

Don't confuse with

• Inter-State Council: it is set up under Art. 263 of the Constitution by a Presidential Order (1990) and is chaired by the Prime Minister [1]. Zonal Councils are statutory (SRA 1956) and are chaired by the Union Home Minister.
• North Eastern Council: it was created by a separate law, the NEC Act 1971 [6], and since 2002 it is a regional planning body, not only an advisory one [S8b]. The Zonal Councils remain purely advisory.
• Constitutional bodies (for example, the Finance Commission under Art. 280): these are created by the Constitution itself. Zonal Councils are not constitutional bodies. Parliament created them by law.
• NITI Aayog's Regional Councils: these are separate forums under NITI Aayog. Do not mix them up with the five Zonal Councils under the SRA 1956.

Prelims Hooks

• Zonal Councils are statutory bodies created under ss. 15–22 of the States Reorganisation Act 1956. They are not constitutional bodies [3].
• There are five councils (Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, Southern), set up in 1957 [3].
• The Union Home Minister chairs all five. The vice-chair is a Chief Minister of the zone, and the post rotates every year [3].
• Trap: the Prime Minister chairs the Inter-State Council, not the Zonal Councils.
• Trap: the north-eastern states fall under the North Eastern Council (NEC Act 1971), not under a sixth Zonal Council [6].
• Revival: 5 meetings in the 7 years before 2014 [5], but 55 meetings from 2014 to December 2023 (26 council meetings and 29 Standing Committee meetings) [4].

Mains Points

• Forums for cooperative federalism:
• Zonal Councils let neighbouring states settle border, water-sharing, transport and security problems by talking, before these problems become court cases or political fights.

• The Sarkaria Commission asked for them to be revived, and they met far more often after 2014 [4][5]. This shows that regular forums can make Centre-State relations work better without changing the Constitution.

• Weaknesses:

• They are only advisory, so states can ignore their decisions.
• Whether they meet depends on how much the Union government cares at that time. Before 2014 they had become almost inactive [5].

• Because the Union Home Minister chairs every council, critics say the Centre controls the agenda.

• Reform ideas:

• Fix a regular calendar of meetings.
• Set up a permanent secretariat to follow up on decisions.
• Make sure decisions are reported to the Inter-State Council (Art. 263), so the regional and national forums work as one system.

Related concepts

• Sarkaria Commission
• Punchhi Commission
• Inter-State Council
• North Eastern Council

Read more

• Reviewing the relationship: Sarkaria, Punchhi and the coordination bodies