By IANS,
New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved the reconstitution of the standing committee of the Inter-State Council under the chairmanship of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, an official spokesperson said Thursday.
The panel includes Agriculuture Minister Sharad Pawar, Finance Minister P.Chidambaram, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M.Veerappa Moily, Railways Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chemicals and Fertilizer Minister M.K. Alagiri and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
Chief ministers – Lal Thanhawla (Mizoram), J.Jayalalitha (Tamil Nadu), Parkash Singh Badal (Punjab), Manik Sarkar (Tripura), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Narendra Modi (Gujarat), Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), Oommen Chandy ( Kerala), Akhilesh Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) are also members.
Article 263 of the Constitution provides for the establishment of an Inter-State Council which has been mandated to advise on disputes which may have arisen between states and discuss subjects in which some or all of the states, or the union and one or more of the states, have a common interest.
The standing committee had been constituted for continuous consultation and processing of matters for consideration of the Council.