Indian Polity Quiz: Centre–State Relations

The correct answer is D, Criminal Procedure Code. Criminal procedure is an entry of the Concurrent List, List III of the Seventh Schedule, along with criminal law and the law of evidence, which is why the code of criminal procedure has always been a central law that States may amend with the President's assent. Option A is wrong because police is a classic State subject in List II, and so policing remains a responsibility of the State government. Option B is wrong because public order, usually written in question papers as law and order, is also an entry of the State List. Option C is wrong because prisons, reformatories and borstal institutions are listed in List II as well. Remember the pair that examiners exploit: the crime and its trial are Concurrent, but the force that investigates and the jail that holds the convict are State subjects.

The correct answer is B, Article 248. Article 248 gives Parliament the exclusive power to make a law on any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or the State List, and the power to impose a tax not mentioned in either of those lists; entry 97 of the Union List says the same thing from the other side. Option A is wrong because Article 246 only distributes subjects among the three lists and settles their order of priority. Option C is wrong because Article 249 is the route by which Parliament legislates on a State subject after a Rajya Sabha resolution, which is a different power altogether. Option D is wrong because Article 254 deals with repugnancy between a central and a State law on a Concurrent subject. India placed residuary powers with the Centre, following Canada, unlike the United States and Australia, where they stay with the units.

The correct answer is C. Article 254(1) lays down that where a State law is repugnant to a law made by Parliament on a Concurrent subject, the parliamentary law prevails and the State law is void to the extent of the inconsistency. Option A is wrong as a general statement, though there is a narrow exception in Article 254(2): a State law reserved for the President and given assent prevails in that State, and even then Parliament may override it later by a fresh law. Option B is wrong because the central law is untouched; only the repugnant part of the State law falls. Option D is wrong because the rule of supremacy is written into the Constitution and does not depend on a judicial choice in each case, although courts do apply the doctrine of pith and substance to test whether a real conflict exists.

The correct answer is C, Article 263. Article 263 empowers the President to establish by order an Inter-State Council charged with inquiring into and advising upon disputes between States, investigating subjects of common interest, and making recommendations for better coordination of policy. The Council was actually set up in 1990, acting on a recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission. Option A is wrong because Article 261 deals with full faith and credit to public acts, records and judicial proceedings across India. Option B is wrong because Article 262 covers the adjudication of inter-State river water disputes and allows Parliament to bar the jurisdiction of courts in them. Option D is wrong because Article 280 is the Finance Commission. Keep 261, 262 and 263 in that order: credit, water, council.

The correct answer is B, Justice R. S. Sarkaria. The Union government appointed a three-member Commission on Centre-State Relations in 1983 under Justice Rajinder Singh Sarkaria, a retired judge of the Supreme Court; it submitted its report in 1988 and recommended a permanent Inter-State Council, sparing use of Article 356, and consultation with States before legislating on Concurrent subjects. Option A is wrong because Justice Madan Mohan Punchhi, a former Chief Justice of India, headed the later commission appointed in 2007, which reported in 2010. Option C is wrong because Dr P. V. Rajamannar chaired the committee set up in 1969 by the Tamil Nadu government, not by the Union. Option D is wrong because K. Santhanam is associated with the committee on the prevention of corruption of 1962, a different subject entirely.

The correct answer is B. Article 249 provides that if the Rajya Sabha declares by a resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest, Parliament may make a law on a matter in the State List; such a law stays in force for one year and may be extended for one year at a time by a fresh resolution. Option A is wrong because a simple majority is not enough for this special power. Option C is wrong because the requirement is of members present and voting, not of the total membership, a distinction examiners test often. Option D is wrong because a three-fourths majority belongs to the GST Council under Article 279A. Note also that only the Rajya Sabha, as the House of the States, can pass this resolution.

The correct answer is B. Article 280 requires the President to constitute a Finance Commission every fifth year, or at such earlier time as the President considers necessary, consisting of a chairman and four other members. It recommends the distribution of the net proceeds of shareable taxes between the Union and the States and among the States, the principles governing grants-in-aid out of the Consolidated Fund of India, and measures to augment the resources of panchayats and municipalities. Option A is wrong because Article 275 deals with statutory grants-in-aid to States, not with the Commission. Option C is wrong because Article 282 covers discretionary grants for any public purpose, made by the Union or a State. Option D is wrong because Article 293 is about State borrowing, which requires Union consent while a Union loan is outstanding.

The correct answer is A, Article 279A. The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 inserted Article 279A, under which the President constitutes the GST Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, with the Union Minister of State for Finance and a minister nominated by each State as members. Option B is wrong because Article 268A, which had dealt with service tax, was omitted by the same amendment. Option C is wrong because Article 246A is also a creation of that amendment but it confers the power to make laws on goods and services tax on both Parliament and the State legislatures; it does not create the Council. Option D is wrong because Article 269A provides for the levy and apportionment of GST on inter-State supplies. All four articles belong to the same amendment, so read the question for the body being asked about.

The correct answer is C, Public health and sanitation, which remains an entry of the State List. The 42nd Amendment Act of 1976 moved exactly five subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List: education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds, and administration of justice with the constitution and organisation of all courts except the Supreme Court and the High Courts. Option A is wrong because education is the best known of those five transfers, and it is the reason both Parliament and the State legislatures now legislate on schooling. Option B is wrong because forests moved in the same year, which is why the Forest Conservation Act of 1980 is a central law. Option D is wrong because the establishment of standards of weights and measures was already a Union entry, and the State entry on weights and measures was shifted to the Concurrent List by this amendment.

The correct answer is C, Article 262. Article 262 lets Parliament provide by law for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint about the use, distribution or control of the waters of an inter-State river or river valley, and it also permits Parliament to provide that neither the Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise jurisdiction in such a dispute; the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act of 1956 was enacted under it, and tribunals are set up under that Act. Option A is wrong because Article 256 obliges a State to exercise its executive power so as to ensure compliance with laws made by Parliament. Option B is wrong because Article 257 deals with the Union's control over States, including directions on communications of national importance and on the protection of railways. Option D is wrong because Article 263 creates the Inter-State Council, an advisory body, not a tribunal.