The West Bengal Assembly on Monday unanimously passed a resolution opposing any attempt to “divide the state”.
The resolution came after statements by one group of BJP leaders asking for North Bengal to be made a separate Union Territory, and another group repeating demands for a separate state of Cooch Behar. BJP Jharkhand MP Nishikant Dubey separately called for tribal areas of North Bengal and Jharkhand to be formed into one unit.
Resolutions are commonly passed by state Assemblies on subjects the MLAs deem important. How binding are they? What is their legal standing? To what extent can they go?
First, what are resolutions?
A resolution helps take up a matter of general interest for discussion in the House. It is a self-contained independent proposal submitted for the approval of the House and drafted in such a way as to be capable of expressing a decision of the House.
Members of the House approve or disapprove the resolution.
Some resolutions are of great consequence. As per Article 61 of the Constitution, for example, which deals with impeachment of the President, a resolution in this regard can be moved only after at least 14 days’ notice in writing and has to be signed by one-fourth of the total number of members of the House. Such a resolution then has to get the backing of at least two-thirds of the total membership of the House.
When Parliament wants to amend a provision of the Constitution, the amendment needs to be ratified by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the states by resolutions.
Other resolutions — such as the one passed in West Bengal Monday — ate more of an expression of a consensus. They might not have a legal bearing but send a political message.
States such as Kerala — headed by a CPI(M) government in opposition to the BJP — passing a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) or a state like Nagaland with a high-tribal population passing a resolution against the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) are examples of such political signalling.
More recently, various states have passed resolutions condemning the violence in Manipur.
What have the courts said?
In March 2021, the Supreme Court heard a PIL filed by an NGO named Samta Andolan Samiti that challenged legislative competence of different state Assemblies in passing resolutions against central laws like the CAA and the (now-repealed) three farm laws.
Their contention was that the CAA and the farm laws were passed by the Centre as per powers granted to it under Part 1 or Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. The Seventh Schedule allocates powers to Centres and States and delineates on which matters the states and Centres can make laws.
Advocate Soumya Chakraborty who represented the NGO said that since states had no power to make those laws, they could not have an opinion on them.
The Supreme Court, however, found no harm in state Legislative Assemblies passing resolutions against Central laws.
A Bench led by Chief Justice Sharad Bobde underlined that these resolutions are “opinions” of a majority of the members of a Legislative Assembly and do not have the force of law.
Examples of resolutions
In January 2020, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed a resolution to abolish the state’s Legislative Council. The YSR Congress party (YSRCP) was in power at the time and the resolution came after two crucial Bills on its plans to have three capitals were not cleared by the opposition TDP-dominated Upper House.
In November 2021, the Andhra Assembly withdrew the resolution.
Some pertain to inter-state issues.
In December 2022, the Maharashtra Assembly passed a resolution to “legally pursue” inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking Karnataka villages into the state.
Some express the will of the state.
In August 2020, the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passed a resolution to persuade the Centre to include the state in the Sixth Schedule of Constitution and amend Article 371(H) to protect the rights of its indigenous population.
Resolutions can also be about a specific individual or congratulatory in nature.
In February, the Goa legislative Assembly passed a resolution hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his “efforts to resolve the long-pending issue of the construction of Ram temple” in Ayodhya. After the Chandrayaan-3’s mission accomplished a ‘soft landing’ on the Moon’s south pole, several Assemblies hailed the historic achievement.
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