JUDGMENT

BEG, C. J.:— "India, that is Bharat, shall be a Union of States." The very first mandate of the first Article of our Constitution to which we owe allegiance thus prohibits, by necessary implication, according to the plaintiff in the original suit now before us under Art. 131 of the Constitution of India, any constitutionally unjustifiable trespass by the Union Government upto the domain of the powers of the States. The State of Karnataka, has therefore, sued for a declaration that a notification dated 23-5-1977 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Central Notification') constituting a Commission of Inquiry in purported exercise of its powers under 76 Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), is illegal asd ultra vires. This declaration is sought on one of two alternative grounds: firstly, that the Commissions of inquiry Act, 1952, does not "authorise the Central Government to constitute a Commission of Inquiry in regard to matters falling exclusively within the sphere of the State's legislative and executive power"; and, secondly, that if the provisions of the Act do cover the Central Govt. Notification, they are ultra vires for