Inter-State Council

The Inter-State Council is a recommendatory body that has been empowered to investigate and discuss subjects of common interest between the Union and state(s), or among states.
It also makes recommendations for better coordination of policy and action on these subjects, and deliberations on matters of general interest to the states, which may be referred to it by its chairman.
It also deliberates on other matters of general interest to the states as may be referred by the chairman to the council.
The Council may meet at least thrice in a year.
There is also a Standing Committee of the Council.

Composition

Prime Minister- Chairman
Chief Ministers of all States Members
Chief Ministers of Union Territories have a Legislative Assembly and Administrators of UTs not have a Legislative Assembly and Governors of States under President’s Rule (Governor’s Rule in the case of J&K) Members.
Six Ministers of Cabinet rank in the Union Council of Ministers to be nominated by the Prime Minister Members.

To create a strong institutional framework to promote and support cooperative federalism in the country and activate the council and zonal councils by organizing regular meetings.
Facilitates consideration of all pending and emerging issues of Centre-state and inter-state relations by the zonal councils and inter-state council.
Develops a sound system to monitor the implementation of recommendations put forward by them.

It was set up in 1996 for continuous consultation and processing of matters for the consideration of the Council.
It consists of the following members: (i) Union Home Minister as the Chairman (ii) Five Union Cabinet Ministers (iii) Nine Chief Ministers the Council is assisted by a secretariat called the Inter-State Council Secretariat.
This secretariat was set up in 1991 and is headed by a secretary to the Government of India. Since 2011, it is also functioning as the secretariat of the Zonal Councils.

The standing committee will have continuous consultation and process matters for consideration of the council, processing all matters pertaining to center-state relations before they are taken up for consideration in the inter-state council.
The standing committee also monitors the implementation of the decisions taken on the recommendations of the council and considers any other matter referred to it by the chairman or the council.

The Zonal Councils are the statutory (and not the constitutional) bodies. They are established by an Act of Parliament, that is, the States Reorganisation Act of 1956.
The act divided the country into five zones- Northern, Central, Eastern, Western, and Southern and provided a zonal council for each zone.
While forming these zones, several factors have been taken into account which include: the natural divisions of the country, the river systems and means of communication, the cultural and linguistic affinity, and the requirements of economic development, security, and law and order.
North Eastern Council: The North Eastern States i.e. (i) Assam (ii) Arunachal Pradesh (iii) Manipur (iv) Tripura (v) Mizoram (vi) Meghalaya and (vii) Nagaland are not included in the Zonal Councils and their special problems are looked after by the North Eastern Council, set up under the North Eastern Council Act, 1972.

Articles 301 to 307 in Part XIII of the Constitution deal with the trade, commerce, and intercourse within the territory of India.

Article 262 of the Constitution provides for the adjudication of interstate water disputes.
It makes two provisions:
- Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with respect to the use, distribution, and control of waters of any inter-state river and river valley.
- Parliament may also provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court is to exercise jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or complaint.

Zonal Councils	Defence Acquisition Council (DAC)
Assam- Meghalaya Boundary Dispute	Sagarmala Project