Bhubaneswar: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has reconstituted the Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council including its 13 members and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been included in the council.
According to the Gazette notification, the MHA took the step in supersession of the Inter-State Council Secretariat’s notification dated August 9, 2019, and with the approval of the Prime Minister.
While Home Minister Amit Shah will chair the Committee, four other Union Ministers and eight Chief Ministers have also been included. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat are the Union Ministers as members of the Standing committee.
Along with Chief Minister of Odisha Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh have been made members of this Committee.
The Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council processes important matters pertaining to Centre-State relations in the country before they are taken up for consideration in the Inter-State Council.
The committee also monitors the implementation of decisions taken on the recommendations of the Council and considers any other matter referred to it by the Chairman or Council.
The Inter-State Council was established as a permanent body on May 28, 1990, by a Presidential order on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission which also recommended that a permanent Inter-State Council called the Inter-Governmental Council (IGC) should be set up under Article 263.
