Left to right – Amrith Bhargav, Arvind Datar, C S Vaidyanathan, and Arghya Sengupta at Lawgical Connect in Chennai
Jurists and legal scholars stressed on the need for cooperative federalism, emphasising that the Centre, State and rural panchayat & municipalities must collaborate to discharge public duties within the constitutional framework.
Speaking at the event Lawgical Connect, senior advocates C S Vaidyanathan, Arvind Datar and legal experts Prof. Arghya Sengupta & Amrith Bhargav emphasised on how India’s constitutional framework has helped the country manage global turbulence over the years. The experts were part of a panel discussion on the topic of ‘Concurrent List Constitutionalism’ in the event organised by SASTRA Deemed University Law School at Chennai.
C S Vaidyanathan said that amid turbulence in neighbouring countries, India’s constitution has stood its test of time. He also spoke on the need to rationalise cess & surcharge utilisation to enrich the social infrastructure with more involvement of the panchayats and municipalities.
He added that States can make new civil & criminal laws for better justice administration and such new laws will receive natural assent.
Prof. Arghya Sengupta added that the constitutional journey in the last 75 years has seen different models of government and there is a need to understand various models of devolutionary power which no longer can be the same as it were during the planning commission times.
Arvind Datar compared the constitution to a joint family with the union government as the Kartha, the State governments as coparceners and underscored the importance of an united family under the constitutional canvas in the light of the recent act of terrorism at Kashmir.
Amrith Bhargav, Advocate, moderated the panel and summarised the need for a three-track system that has cooperative, consultative and progressive constitutionalism. S Vaidhyasubramaniam, Vice-Chancellor of SASTRA traced the history of Lawgical Connect and how it was instrumental in creating vigilantism on black money law, uniform civil code, and others.
Published on April 27, 2025