Topic: Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary—Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity.
4. UTs having legislatures with ultimate control vested in the central administrator reflect the Structural Fragility of Union Territories in India. Critically examine. (250 words)
Reference: The Hindu
Why the question:
The article presents the political turmoil in the Union Territory of Puducherry and this the structural fragility associated with UTs in India.
Key Demand of the question:
Critically examine how UTs having legislatures with ultimate control vested in the central administrator reflect the Structural Fragility of Union Territories in India.
Directive:
Critically examine – When asked to ‘Examine’, we have to look into the topic (content words) in detail, inspect it, investigate it and establish the key facts and issues related to the topic in question. While doing so we should explain why these facts and issues are important and their implications. When ‘critically’ is suffixed or prefixed to a directive, one needs to look at the good and bad of the topic and give a fair judgment.
Structure of the answer:
Introduction:
Start with a brief background of the question.
Body:
Explain that the original Constitution under Article 239 provided for the administration of UTs directly by the President through the administrators. However there was a general perception that this framework fails to meet the democratic aspirations of the people.
Article 239A was brought in 1962, to enable Parliament to create legislatures for the UTs. In this direction, some UTs were provided with a legislature and Council of Ministers to fulfil the democratic aspirations of the people of these territories.
Then present an analysis of the constitutional provisions and their implementation brings to light the structural fragility of Union Territories (UTs) in the Indian federation.
Conclusion:
Conclude that experience shows that the UTs having legislatures with ultimate control vested in the central administrator are not workable. There should a relook at the existing legal and constitutional provisions to realize the vision of a free and autonomous government in the UTs.
