Item

Constitutional crossroads in India: perspectives from federal constitutional history on allocating competency over public health

Title
Constitutional crossroads in India: perspectives from federal constitutional history on allocating competency over public health
Creator
George Mathew, Sushma; Sreedharan Nair, Jayadevan
Description
This article examines the nascent proposal in India advising that public health should be shifted from the exclusive state legislative list to the concurrent legislative list of the Constitution of India. This proposal raises complex constitutional, administrative, and political questions animating federal democracies about the roles of various levels of government in public health policy, administration and delivery. Unfortunately, the 15th Finance Commission (supported by other entities) does not provide full reasons for their proposal, or the constitutional, administrative and political dimensions of this proposal. In this context, this paper attempts to throw some light on the constitutional history of public health being a state subject in India, by examining seven pre-independence constitutional documents that briefly but clearly addressed the subject. All the constitutional documents illustrate how public health was at first devolved, thereafter distributed to state competency, and eventually settled for exclusive state competency. However, colonial administrators raised a constant caveat that devolution/distribution of powers over the subject should not deter the coordination of the subject. It is suggested that this caveat should inform the future debate on whether health should be a state or concurrent subject, especially since coordination is not possible unless the centre also has a minimum of legislative competency over the subject. The actual subjects/topics on which coordination in the field of public health is necessary is a matter appropriate for discussion and determination by public health professionals. 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Source
Critical Public Health;Volume;36;Issue;1;Article No.;2670842;
Date
01-01-2026
Publisher
Routledge
Subject
concurrent list;; Constituent Assembly debates; Feetham Functions Committee;; Government of India Act, 1919;; Government of India Act, 1935;
Coverage
George Mathew S., School of Law, Christ University, Bengaluru, India; Sreedharan Nair J., School of Law, Christ University, Bengaluru, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 9581596; CODEN: CPHRC
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Notes

Citation

George Mathew, Sushma; Sreedharan Nair, Jayadevan, “Constitutional crossroads in India: perspectives from federal constitutional history on allocating competency over public health,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 18, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/26342.

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