New Delhi, April 5 -- A sharp rise in legal confrontations between states and the Centre risks undermining India's constitutional design, Supreme Court judge justice BV Nagarathna said on Saturday, cautioning that such disputes erode the spirit of cooperative federalism and weaken institutional balance. Delivering the First Dr Rajendra Prasad Memorial Lecture at Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) in Patna, Justice Nagarathna stressed that a "mature federation" must prioritise dialogue and negotiation. "Increase in conflict between the States of the Union or between the Centre and the States does not augur well for the nation," she said, adding that such disputes "create a dent in constitutional form of governance and thus must be avoided." "When States begin filing suits against one another, or against the Centre, it reflects not strength, but a weakening of cooperative federalism,"" she observed, and also underlined the responsibility of the Union government in maintaining federal equilibrium, stating that the Centre must view states as coordinates and not subordinates. Her remarks come at a time when the Supreme Court is increasingly being drawn into politically charged disputes, including a clutch of petitions by Opposition parties challenging the Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging large-scale disenfranchisement....