Article 254 of the Constitution deals with what is referred to, in legal parlance, as the doctrine of repugnancy. The doctrine is ordinarily invoked to resolve inconsistencies between a central legislation and a state legislation. In 1979, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court had, in M. Karunanidhi vs. Union of India, defined the scope of Article 254. The landmark judgment, still among the leading verdicts on the interpretation of the Article, had held that “where the provisions of a Central Act and a State Act in the Concurrent list are fully inconsistent and absolutely irreconcilable, the Central Act will prevail and the State Act will become void in view of the repugnancy” as per Article 254 (1). This reading, however, meant that the central government could easily impose its legislation on state legislatures. It is to prevent the Centre from riding roughshod over State legislatures that certain exceptions have been made under Article 254 (2).