with each other. The Union and NCTD need to cooperate in a similar manner to the Union and the States. Our interpretation of the Constitution must enhance the spirit of federalism and democracy together. This approach of interpretation is located in the 2018 Constitution Bench judgment, wherein the opinion of the majority held as follows:
“284.7. Our Constitution contemplates a meaningful orchestration of federalism and democracy to put in place an egalitarian social order, a classical unity in a contemporaneous diversity and a pluralistic milieu in eventual cohesiveness without losing identity. Sincere attempts should be made to give fullfledged effect to both these concepts”
77. In the spirit of cooperative federalism, the Union of India must exercise its powers within the boundaries created by the Constitution. NCTD, having a sui generis federal model, must be allowed to function in the domain charted for it by the Constitution. The Union and NCTD share a unique federal relationship. It does not mean that NCTD is subsumed in the unit of the Union merely because it is not a “State”. As the opinion of the majority in 2018 Constitution Bench judgement held:
“Such an interpretation would be in consonance with the concepts of pragmatic federalism and federal balance by giving the Government of NCT of Delhi some required degree of independence subject to the limitations imposed by the Constitution.”
The interpretation of Article 239AA(3)(a) in an expansive manner would further the
basic structure of federalism.
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