The year 2023 has been a topsy-turvy one for federalism in India. From the Supreme Court judgment on the Delhi services matter, which was followed by the Parliament passing a new law undermining the rationale of the Supreme Court judgment, to the Maharashtra Shiv Sena split judgment (and the role of the governor in it) and of course the big decision In Re Article 370, where the Supreme Court upheld the J&K Reorganisation Act, 2019, it has been a roller-coaster ride all along..Add to this the multiple matters of state governments approaching the Supreme Court over the new practice of governors sitting over Bills and you have a situation where the year may have ended up with the wall of federalism having less bricks in it than it had at its beginning..In this exclusive interview with The Leaflet, P.D.T. Achary, former secretary general of the 14th and 15th Lok Sabhas and Lok Sabha secretariat, widely considered one of India's foremost experts on the finer points of parliamentay procedure and Constitution, helps untangle some of these complicated legal issues, in the process managing an assessment of 2023 and a prediction for the year to come.
