Inter-State Relations — Water Disputes (Art. 262), the Inter-State Council (Art. 263), Zonal Councils and Freedom of Trade

Federalism Is Not Only Centre Versus State

Almost every revision note treats federalism as a vertical question — what the Union may do to a State. The Constitution also answers a horizontal one: what happens when two States collide. A river runs through three of them. A State taxes goods arriving from its neighbour. Two neighbours simply need to plan together.

Part XI of the Constitution handles this in three short articles, and Part XIII in a set of seven:

• ›Article 261 — full faith and credit: public acts, records and judicial proceedings of one State must be honoured everywhere in India.
• ›Article 262 — adjudication of disputes over the waters of inter-State rivers.
• ›Article 263 — the Inter-State Council.
• ›Articles 301–307 — trade, commerce and intercourse throughout India shall be free.

Add one body that is not in the Constitution at all — the Zonal Councils — and you have the whole chapter. Exams ask about the four almost interchangeably, and mostly about which is constitutional and which is statutory.

1. Which article of the Constitution empowers Parliament to provide for the adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-State rivers?

2. Who is the Chairman of the Inter-State Council established under Article 263?

3. The Zonal Councils in India were created by which of the following?

4. Who acts as the Chairman of each of the five Zonal Councils?

5. The Inter-State Council was set up in 1990 mainly on the recommendation of which commission?

6. Which article declares that trade, commerce and intercourse throughout the territory of India shall be free?

7. The North Eastern Council was constituted under which of the following?

8. A State legislature wishes to pass a bill imposing reasonable restrictions on the freedom of trade with other States in the public interest. What does Article 304(b) require?