Inter-State Relations

• Article 131 of the Constitution of India provides for the judicial determination of disputes between states by vesting the Supreme Court with exclusive jurisdiction in the matter, while Article 262 of the Constitution provides for the adjudication of once class of such disputes by an extra judicial tribunal.
• The Article 263 of the constitution of India provides for the prevention of inner state disputes by an investigation and recommendation by an administrative body.
• Under Article 262 of the Constitution, the parliament has framed the Inter-State Water Disputes Tribunal for adjudication of disputes between States for the waters of any Inter State River or river valley.
• Any dispute related Inter State River or River Valley is excluded from the jurisdiction of all courts including Supreme Court.
• An Inter State Council has been constituted for coordination in Inter State Disputes.
• Total 6 Zonal Councils have been established to discuss and advise on matters of common interests. These are-

1. The Central Zone- Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh
2. The Northern Zone- Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu & Kashmir and the Union Territories of Delhi and Chandigarh
3. The Western Zone- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, and the Union Territories of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu
4. The Southern Zone- Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry
5. The Eastern Zone- Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha
6. The North – Eastern Council- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Sikkim

• Each Zonal Council comprises the Chief Minister and two other ministers of each of the States in the Zone and the administrator in the case of Union Territory.
• The Union Home Minister has been nominated the Chairman of al the Zonal Councils.