Why in news
The Kerala Assembly, in a unanimous decision, passed a resolution proposing a Constitutional amendment to change the name of the State to ‘Keralam’.
The resolution, moved by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, called for invoking Article 3 of the Constitution to effectuate this change in the First Schedule.
This resolution mirrors an attempt from last year, which was sent back by the Centre due to procedural issues.
Procedure to rename a state
The renaming of a state requires Parliamentary approval under Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution.
Article 3 of the Indian Constitution: It gives the Indian Parliament the power to reorganize the territories of the states and to alter their boundaries, by passing a bill for this purpose.
The State Reorganization Act of 1956: It provides a framework for the reorganization of states in India, including the changing of names of states.
A bill for renaming a state may be introduced in the Parliament on the recommendation of the President.
Before the introduction of the bill, the President shall send the bill to the respective state assembly for expressing their views within a stipulated time.
The views of the state assembly are not binding, neither on the President nor on the Parliament.
On the expiry of the period, the bill will be sent to the Parliament for deliberation.
The bill in order to take the force of a law must be passed by a simple majority.
The bill is sent for approval to the President.
After the approval of the said bill, the bill becomes a law and the name of the state stands modified
COMMENTS