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Indian PolityEasy

Who acts as the chairman of each of the five Zonal Councils?

  1. A.The Prime Minister
  2. B.The Union Home Minister
  3. C.The senior-most Governor of the zone
  4. D.The Chief Minister of the largest State of the zone

Correct answer

B. The Union Home Minister

Explanation

The correct answer is B, the Union Home Minister. The States Reorganisation Act makes the Union Home Minister the common chairman of all five Zonal Councils, so that the Centre and the States of a zone meet under one presiding officer. The Chief Minister of a member State is the vice-chairman and the office rotates among the member States every year. Option A is a classic trap: the Prime Minister chairs the Inter-State Council of 1990, not a Zonal Council. Option C is wrong because the Governor is the constitutional head of a single State and has no role in inter-state forums of this kind. Option D is wrong on two counts: size of a State is irrelevant, and the Chief Minister position in the council is that of vice-chairman by rotation rather than chairman by seniority or population.

Read the full article: Inter-State Relations and Zonal Councils: Articles and PYQs

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Practice Questions

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Q1.Indian PolityEasy

The Inter-State Council can be established by the President under which article of the Constitution?

  1. A.Article 261
  2. B.Article 262
  3. C.Article 263
  4. D.Article 280
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Article 263

Article 263 empowers the President to establish by order an Inter-State Council if it appears to him that the public interest would be served by it, and it lists the Council duties: inquiring into and advising upon disputes between States, investigating and discussing subjects of common interest to the Union…

Q2.Indian PolityMedium

The Zonal Councils in India were created by which of the following?

  1. A.An order of the President under Article 263
  2. B.The States Reorganisation Act, 1956
  3. C.The Seventh Schedule of the Constitution
  4. D.A resolution of the Planning Commission
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The States Reorganisation Act, 1956

The five Zonal Councils were set up by this Act, which also reorganised the States on a linguistic basis, and they are therefore statutory bodies rather than constitutional ones.

Q4.Indian PolityMedium

Full faith and credit is to be given throughout the territory of India to the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and the States under which article?

  1. A.Article 256
  2. B.Article 261
  3. C.Article 301
  4. D.Article 131
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Article 261

This article makes the public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and of every State valid and provable everywhere in India, and it declares that the final judgments and orders of civil courts in any part of India may be executed anywhere in the country.

Q5.Indian PolityHard

The Inter-State Council set up in 1990 followed the recommendation of which commission?

  1. A.The Punchhi Commission
  2. B.The Sarkaria Commission
  3. C.The Rajamannar Committee
  4. D.The Dhar Commission
Show answer
Correct answer: B. The Sarkaria Commission

Appointed in 1983 under Justice R. S. Sarkaria to review Centre-State relations, it submitted its report in 1988 and pressed for a permanent Inter-State Council under Article 263; the Council was created by a presidential order in 1990.