Centre should not go against federal structure of Constitution: Kerala CM

Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre should not go against the federal structure of the Constitution and legislation on subjects listed in its concurrent list should be carried out in consultation with the States, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Sunday.

Vijayan said the Central government should refrain from making laws on matters in the State list of the Constitution.

He was speaking at the 7th Governing Council meeting of the NITI Aayog which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre in Delhi.

Besides telling the Centre not to ”challenge” federalism, Vijayan said steps should be taken to raise Kerala’s credit-limit as it has not yet recovered from the economic problems caused by COVID-19.

He further said the southern State has entrusted matters related to panchayats and municipalities, mentioned in the 11th and 12th schedules of the Constitution, with the local self-governing bodies as part of decentralisation of power.

Therefore, the Centre should consider this aspect also when distributing the consolidated funds.

He spoke also on the need for a legal solution to the Supreme Court’s direction to maintain a one-km wide eco-sensitive zone (ESZ).

The apex court’s direction in June this year has created a lot of rumblings among those living in the hilly and forest regions of Kerala, leading to the State Assembly unanimously passing a resolution requesting the Centre to exempt inhabited places and agricultural lands in the State while implementing the one-km wide ESZ.

The apex court had, on June 3, directed that each protected forest, including national parks and wildlife sanctuaries, must have an ESZ of one km and banning of mining activities within such parks across the nation.

The apex court had said no permanent structure would be allowed within such zones and said if the local law or other rules provide for an ESZ of more than one km then the earlier provision would continue to apply.

The other issues he touched upon in his speech was the increase in allocation of funds under PMAY for urban and rural projects, timely completion of national highway development, approve Kerala’s air-rail projects, provide technical and financial support to improve coastal protection and review the cut in kerosene quota as the same was adversely affecting fishermen.

Vijayan sought technical support and financial assistance also from the Centre for manufacturing value-added products from coconut, setting up new processing plants for palmoil production and groundnut production.