In our constitutional setup the Finance Commission has far-reaching and enduring significance because fiscal transfers from the Union to the States became necessary in India due to both vertical and horizontal federal fiscal imbalances. Visualizing this, the constitution has provided for an impartial and periodic Finance Commission to recommend devolutions to states to rectify these imbalances. The significant aspect of this book is that it makes a detailed and analytical study of the working of the Finance Commissions, covering historical, constitutional and political aspects. Further, it is an in depth study of their composition, terms of reference, powers and procedure of work. A major portion of this work is devoted to an extensive and critical study of the principles adopted by these Commissions for assessing the needs of the States for distributing and allocating the divisible taxes between the Centre and the States. Besides, this study makes a searching and critical appraisal of the approaches of these Commissions to the issue of grants-in-aid to States.
There are no reviews yet.