The Planning Commission has reportedly refused to finalise Centre’s annual allocation to Uttar Pradesh unless the state chief minister Mayawati attends the meeting called for the purpose. Hindustan Times has reported that the Planning Commission has decided to hold back funds to the states in all cases where the chief ministers do not attend the meetings called by the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

While chief ministers routinely attend such meetings, Mayawati has not attended a single such meeting ever since she took over as chief minister. For the past three years, the annual plan for Uttar Pradesh has been finalised in her absence, in meetings chaired by the Planning Commission’s member in-charge for Uttar Pradesh and attended by the secretaries of the state. Mayawati doesn’t just skip the meetings called by Ahluwalia, though. She refuses to turn up at meetings called by the prime minister, too.

Of course, Mayawati is doing a disservice to Uttar Pradesh by not lobbying for her state in person. Her political equation with the central government notwithstanding, she should be seen to be serving the interests of her electorate by garnering as much as she can from the Centre.

On the other hand, however, the Planning Commission has no business to demand the presence of the chief ministers. It is an extra-constitutional relic of a bygone era that is scarcely in sync with either contemporary economic requirements or federal democratic aspirations. It is neither accountable to Parliament nor guided by the will of the people.

Should the Planning Commission, then, dictate chief ministers?