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had certain important functions to perform, disappears from the new Constitution, the former scheme was essentially based on a Rulers' polity. It assumed that sovereignty, in theory as well as in actual practice, vested in the Ruler and that an acceding State consisted, as a federating unit, entirely of the sum total of the sovereignty and autonomous powers vesting in its Ruler and of the personal rights, privileges and dignities enjoyed by him.
243. The new Constitution of India gives expression to the changed conception of Indian unity brought about by two important developments, i.e., the partition of India and the 'unionisation' of states. The Cabinet Mission Plan, under which the Constituent Assembly of India was originally set up, envisaged a weak federal Centre as a measure of concession to the centrifugal trends of the times. It was thought by the authors of this plan that a tenuous constitutional relationship between the Centre and the Constituent units would satisfy the demand of the Muslim majority Provinces for the widest measure of freedom from Central control and reduce to the minimum the field of impingement on the sovereignty of the Rulers of States. The Congress agreed to a Central authority limited to the most essential subjects and to vest all residuary authority not only in the States but also in the Provinces to avert the threatened disruption of the country. With the secession of the Muslim majority Provinces from India, the raison detre for an attenuated Centre disappeared in so far as the relationship of the Centre with the Provinces was concerned. As regards the States, with the rapid demolition of the barriers which separated them from the Provinces, the question of their constitutional relationship with the Centre appeared in a new context. This altered the whole background and gradually the position veered round to a federal structure with a unitary bias, providing for a Centre strong enough to develop the resources of the country and to hold against disruptive forces.
244. Under the Constitution of India the residuary legislative authority, which includes power to impose taxes not specified in any of the Legislative Lists vests in the Union; the Union Parliament alone can make laws for the matters specified in the Union List; the Union has over-riding concurrent legislative authority covering a wide field of subjects; even with respect to matters in the State List, the Union Parliament has power to legislate in the national interests and in a state of emergency. The executive authority of every State is under a statutory obligation to ensure compliance with the Union laws and is to be so exercised as not to impede or prejudice exercise of the executive authority of the Union which extends to giving to the State executive such directions as may be necessary for that purpose. Any failure on the part of the State to comply with the directions issued by the Union executive in the exercise of the executive power of the Union under
