talks only about merit and not about the denial of
educational opportunities to millions of people
in India for centuries together. There is no pro-
posal in DNEP to ban all forms of labour during
childhood.The Federal feature of the Constitution of India
was explained to the Constituent Assembly by
the Chairperson of the Drafting Committee Dr
B. R. Ambedkar on 25th of November, 1949. He
said, “A serious complaint is made on the ground
that there is too much of centralization and that
the States have been reduced to Municipalities.
It is clear that this view is not only an exaggera-
tion but is also founded on a misunderstanding
of what exactly the Constitution contrives to do.
The basic principle of Federalism is that the Leg-
islative and Executive authority is partitioned be-
tween the Centre and the States not by any law to
be made by the Centre but by the Constitution
itself. This is what Constitution does. The States
under our Constitution are in no way dependent
upon the Centre for their legislative or executive
authority. The Centre and the States are coequal
in this matter. It is difficult to see how such a Con-
stitution can be called centralism. The chief mark
of federalism as I said lies in the partition of the
legislative and executive authority between the
Centre and the Units by the Constitution. This
is the principle embodied in our constitution.
There can be no mistake about it. It is, therefore,
wrong to say that the States have been placed un-
der the Centre. The centre cannot, by its own will
alter the boundary of that partition.”The 13 Judge Constitutional Bench, Largest Con-
stituted Bench, of the Supreme Court of India in
the year 1973 in the Kesavananda Bharathi case
held that Federal Character of the Constitution is
the Basic Structure. Article 246 is violated when
the DNEP proposes a Central regulatory Author-
ity to regulate all State Universities. Entry 44 un-
der List 1 in Schedule VII states about the Union
not having the power to regulate a Universityand Entry 32 under List 2 in Schedule 7 clearly
states the power of the State Government to in-
corporate, regulate and wind up the University.
A central regulatory to regulate all universities is
to alter the basic structure of the Constitution of
India. Indian Constitution is based on the Fed-
eral Structure. The Hon’ble Supreme Court had
held that the basic structure of the Constitution
could not be altered. If a central authority under
the Prime Minister is empowered to decide all
matters concerning Higher Education, the Fed-
eral Spirit of the Constitution of India is lost. It
is usurping the powers of the State Government.
National Education Commission, i.e. RSA, is
against the Federal Rights that the Constitution
had given to the State Governments and State
Legislatures.
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