White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 11/Control of the Government of India over the States during the transitional period
241. Other Matters.—Amongst other important features of the new Constitution, in so far as they concern the States, reference may be made to the following:—
(1) Control of the Government of India over the States during the transitional period.
In Part X of this Paper, the reasons which rendered it necessary for the Government of India to assure general control over the Unions of States have been set out in detail. As the stress of the transitional phase is likely to continue for some time, it has been considered necessary that the Government of India should exercise supervisory authority over the Governments of States specified in Part B till such time as may be necessary. This is provided in Article 371, which reads as follows:
The following extract from the Statement made by the Hon'ble Minister for States before the Constituent Assembly on October 12, 1949, explains the policy of the Government of India in respect of the application of this Article:
It is natural that a provision of this nature which treats States in Part B differently from Part A States should cause some misgivings. I wish to assure the Hon'ble Members representing these States, and through them the people of these States, that the provision involves no censure of any Government. It merely provides for contingencies which, in view of the present conditions, are more likely to arise in Part B States than in the States of other categories. We do not wish to interfere with the day-to-day administration of any of the States. We are ourselves most anxious that the people of the States should learn by experience. This Article is essentially in the nature of a safety valve to obviate recourse to drastic remedies such as the provisions for the breakdown of the constitutional machinery. It is quite obvious that in this matter the States, e.g. Mysore and Travancore-Cochin, where democratic institutions have been functioning for a long time and where Government responsible to Legislation are in office, have to be treated differently from the States not conforming to these standards. In all these cases our control will be exercised in varying degrees according to the requirements of each case. The proviso to the Article gives us the necessary discretion to deal with each case on its merits.