Which three subjects of the State List are kept outside the legislative competence of the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi?

The correct answer is B, Article 239. Article 239(1) provides that every Union Territory shall be administered by the President acting, to such extent as he thinks fit, through an administrator appointed by him with such designation as he may specify. This is why a Union Territory has a Lieutenant Governor or an Administrator and not a Governor of its own. Option A is wrong because Article 238, which dealt with the application of Part VI to the old Part B states, was repealed by the Seventh Amendment of 1956 and no longer operates. Option C is wrong because Article 240 is a different power altogether: it lets the President make regulations for certain named Union Territories such as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. Option D is wrong because Article 241 deals with High Courts for Union Territories and empowers Parliament to constitute a High Court for such a territory, as it did for Delhi in 1966.

The correct answer is C, the 69th Amendment, 1991. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 inserted Articles 239AA and 239AB, renamed the Union Territory of Delhi as the National Capital Territory of Delhi and provided it with a Legislative Assembly and a Council of Ministers. Option A is wrong because the Fourteenth Amendment of 1962 inserted Article 239A, which allowed Parliament to create a legislature or a Council of Ministers for certain Union Territories, and it is the basis of Puducherry's assembly, not Delhi's. Option B is wrong because the Sixty-first Amendment of 1988 lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen years. Option D is wrong because the Seventy-fourth Amendment of 1992 added Part IXA on municipalities and the Twelfth Schedule; it strengthened urban local bodies across the country and had nothing to do with Delhi's status as a capital territory.

The correct answer is B, seven. Article 239AA(4) says the Council of Ministers of Delhi shall consist of not more than ten per cent of the total number of members of its Legislative Assembly. The assembly has seventy directly elected seats, so ten per cent of seventy gives seven ministers, a figure that includes the Chief Minister. Option A is wrong because five is not derived from any provision; it is a plausible-looking but invented number. Option C is wrong because ten is the percentage figure in the article, not the number of ministers, and this is the trap the question is built on. Option D is wrong because twelve exceeds the ceiling; a fifteen per cent cap applies to the states under Article 164(1A), but Delhi is governed by the stricter ten per cent rule written into Article 239AA itself.

The correct answer is A, the Governor of Punjab. Article 239(2) allows the President to appoint the Governor of a state as the administrator of an adjoining Union Territory, and under it the Governor of Punjab has been given additional charge as the Administrator of Chandigarh. Option B is wrong because, although Chandigarh is the shared capital of both Punjab and Haryana, it is the Governor of Punjab and not of Haryana who holds the charge. Option C is wrong because a judge of a High Court performs judicial functions and cannot hold an executive office of this kind; such an appointment would offend the separation of powers. Option D is wrong because, while senior civil servants serve as administrators of some Union Territories such as Lakshadweep, Chandigarh is administered under the Article 239(2) arrangement with the Governor of Punjab.

The correct answer is B, Puducherry, by the 14th Amendment of 1962. The Constitution (Fourteenth Amendment) Act, 1962 absorbed the former French settlements into India and inserted Article 239A so that Parliament could give such a territory a legislature and a Council of Ministers; Parliament then passed the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, under which the Puducherry assembly of thirty elected members works. Option A is wrong because Delhi's assembly comes from Article 239AA, inserted by the 69th Amendment. Option C is wrong because the Seventh Amendment of 1956 created the category of Union Territories but gave none of them a legislature, and Lakshadweep has no assembly even today. Option D is wrong because the assembly of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir rests on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, an ordinary law of Parliament, and the 103rd Amendment dealt with reservation for the economically weaker sections.