The Supreme Court in Union of India and Anr versus M/s Mohit Minerals Through Director reiterated what is popularly known about cooperative federalism as held in State (NCT of Delhi) v/s Union of India. Amongst other things, the Court had held that “The Union and the State Governments must embrace a collaborative federal architecture by displaying harmonious coexistence and interdependence so as to avoid any possible constitutional discord.”
However, a concept of uncooperative federalism was introduced in this case which held that the recommendations of of the GST Council are not binding on the Centre and the States. The judgment further stated that political contestation between Centre and States is permitted by the Constitution and such contestation furthers both the principles of democracy and federalism. It said, "If the States have been conferred lesser power they can still resist the mandates of the Union by using different forms of political contestation as permitted by constitutional design. Such contestation furthers both the principle of federalism and democracy. When the federal units are vested with unequal power, the collaboration between them is not necessarily cooperative. Harmonised decision thrives not just on cooperation but also on contestation".
It was further observed by the Hon’ble Bench that "The federal system is a means to accommodate the needs of a pluralistic society to function in a democratic manner. It attempts to reconcile the desire of unity and commonality along with the desire for diversity and autonomy. Democracy and federalism are interdependent on each other for their survival such that federalism would only be stable in well-functioning democracies. Additionally, the constituent units in a federal polity check the exercise of power of one another to prevent one group from exercising dominant power. However, even if the federal units are not entirely autonomous as in the traditional federal system, the units still wield power. The relationship between two constituent units that are not autonomous but rely on each other for their functioning is not in practice always collaborative or cooperative. If the States have been conferred lesser power they can still resist the mandates of the Union by using different forms of political contestation as permitted by constitutional design."