Union and its Territory

Articles 1 to 4 of the Indian Constitution deal with the Union and its territory

Article 1

Article 1 describes India as a ‘Union of States’ and not as ‘Federation of States’.
Although Indian Constitution is federal in structure, India is described as ‘Union of state ’ for two reasons.
1.The Indian Federation is not the result of an agreement among the states like the American Federation; and
2.The states have no right to secede from the federation. Indian Union is indestructible.
India is divided into different states only for the convenience of administration.
According to Article 1 of Indian constitution, the territory of India can be classified into three categories:
1. Territories of the states
2. Union territories
3. Territories that may be acquired by the Government of India at any time.
First Schedule of the Indian constitution mentions the names of states and union territories and their territorial extent.
At present, there are 29 states and 7 union territories.

Article 2

It confers to the Parliament following two powers.
1.the power to admit into the Union of India new states; and
2.the power to establish new states.

Article 3

It deals with the formation of or changes in the existing states of the Union of India.
Article 3 confers following powers to the Parliament in relation to the states.
1.To form a new state by separation of territory from any state or by uniting two or more states or parts of states or by uniting any territory to a part of any state,
2.To increase the area of any state
3.To diminish the area of any state
4.To alter the boundaries of any state
5.To alter the name of any state
While exercising above powers Parliament has to observe following two conditions.
1. The bill which makes above changes can be introduced in the Parliament only with the prior recommendation of the President; and
2. President has to refer the bill to the concerned state legislature for expressing its views within a specified period. President has to refer the bill to the state legislature before recommending the bill.
The president is not bound by views expressed by the concerned state. He may accept it or reject it.
It is also not necessary to resend the bill to the state legislature every time any change to the bill is made and accepted in Parliament.
For a union territory, no reference need be made to the concerned legislature for its views for any changes in boundary.

Article 4

laws made under article 2 and 3 to provide for the amendment of the first and fourth schedule and supplemental, incident and consequential matters
(1) Any law referred to in article 2 or article 3 shall contain such provisions for the amendment of the first schedule and the fourth scheduled as may be necessary of the law and may also contain such supplement, incidental and consequential provisions (including provision as to representation in parliament and in the legislature or legislature of state or states affected by such law) as parliament may deem necessary.
(2) No such law as aforesaid shall be dimmed to be in amend of this constitution for the purposes of article 368.

Crux of articles

1- Article under which Sikkim was made part of Indian union: - Article 2a.
2- Article under which telangana was made part of Indian union: Article 3
3- Article 3 original provision was amended by constitution (Fifth Amendment) act 1955 on 24december 1995.
4- Nowhere under part-1, It is mentioned that India is a federal state. it rather uses the phrase “union of states”
5- The territorial waters and the exclusive economic zones (EEZ) shall also become part of the states or union territories in the absence of any listing of them separately in schedule 1 and 4 f the constitution.
6- An economic zone (EEZ) is a sea zone prescribed by united nation convention on the law of the sea 1982 (UNCCOS) over which a state has special right over the exploration and use of marine resources, including energy production from water and wind. It stretches from the base line out to 200 nautical miles (370km.) from its coast.
7- The difference between the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone is that the first confers full sovereignty over the water, where as the second is merely a “sovereign right” which refers to the coastal state’s right below the surface of the sea. The surface waters, as can be seen in the map, are international waters.
8- The constitution (40th amendment act 1976) substituted a new article 297 so as to vest in union if India all lands, minerals, and other things of value underlying the ocean within the territorial and water or continental shelf or EEZ of India.
9- The territorial waters, continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and other maritime zone act 1976 was enacted by the Indian government to notify the sovereign right on these areas for dealing with other countries.
10- However, it is not clear, whether states are debarred from imposing taxes or royalty on the minerals extracted from the territorial waters and the EEZ (which are still under states jurisdiction) as per serial no 50 of state list in seventh schedule of the constitution .
11- For creation or destruction of a state the permission from the. Concerned state is not mandatory under Indian constitution. But the bill has to refer to the concerned state legislature for expressing its views.
12- Prior recommendation of the president of indie is necessary for the state creation/renaming bill (article 3). No such provision is mandatory under article 2 (new sates).