Centre-State Relations — Set 5

Correct Answer: D. Article 280

• **Article 280 — Finance Commission every 5 years** = mandates the President to constitute a Finance Commission every five years to recommend tax distribution between Centre and States. • **Quasi-judicial body** — the Finance Commission acts as a quasi-judicial body. • 💡 Option A (Article 270) deals with distribution of taxes between Union and States but is not the article that mandates the Finance Commission itself; Option B (Article 265) states no tax shall be levied without authority of law; Option C (Article 112) relates to the Annual Financial Statement (Union Budget).

Correct Answer: A. Sarkaria Commission

• **Sarkaria Commission — Governor Recommendation** = recommended that Governors should be persons from outside the state and should not be active politicians from the ruling party. • **Convention, not law** — this recommendation is followed as a convention but has no legal enforceability; the President (on PM's advice) continues to appoint Governors. • 💡 Option B (Punchhi Commission) made similar recommendations but was not the first to do so — Sarkaria Commission was earlier and more foundational on this point; Option C (Rajamannar Committee) focused on legislative powers and residuary powers, not Governor's role; Option D (Administrative Reforms Commission) focused on administrative restructuring, not federal Governor appointments.

Correct Answer: A. Union List

• **Union List — Most Subjects** = originally contained 97 entries (currently more after amendments), making it the longest list in the Seventh Schedule. • **Centralising tendency** — the Union List's size compared to the State List (66) and Concurrent List (47) reflects the strong unitary/centralising bias of the Indian Constitution. • 💡 Option B (State List) originally had 66 entries — fewer than the Union List; Option C (Concurrent List) originally had 47 entries — the fewest of the three; Option D (Residuary List) is not a formal enumerated list and has zero fixed entries.

Correct Answer: B. State List

• **Local Government — State List Entry 5** = 'Local Government' is Entry 5 of the State List, meaning only State Legislatures can constitute and empower Panchayats and Municipalities. • **73rd and 74th Amendments** — these 1992 amendments gave constitutional status to Panchayats and Municipalities but retained them firmly under State jurisdiction. • 💡 Option A (Concurrent List) would allow both Centre and States to legislate on local government — wrong, only States have this power; Option C (Residuary List) has no fixed entries and local government is explicitly listed; Option D (Union List) would make Parliament the legislator for local bodies — constitutionally incorrect.

Correct Answer: C. The Legislatures of those States

• **Article 252 — State Request for Central Law** = if the Legislatures of two or more States pass resolutions requesting Parliament to legislate on a State List subject, Parliament can do so for those specific states. • **Other States can adopt** — the law applies only to the requesting states initially, but other States can adopt it by passing a resolution in their own legislatures. • 💡 Option A (High Courts of those States) have no role in initiating central legislation on State subjects; Option B (Governors of those States) do not pass resolutions — that is the function of the State Legislatures; Option D (Chief Ministers of those States) act through the Cabinet, but formally the resolution must be passed by the State Legislature, not the CM alone.

Correct Answer: D. Unitary

• **National Emergency — Federal to Unitary** = a Proclamation of National Emergency (Article 352) converts India's federal structure into a unitary one, giving the Centre sweeping powers over States. • **Parliament legislates on State List** — during National Emergency, Parliament gains the power to legislate even on State List subjects, completely overriding normal federal division. • 💡 Option A (Autocratic) implies rule by one person with no constitutional checks — not the correct constitutional term; Option B (Presidential) refers to a Presidential form of government which India does not adopt; Option C (Confederate) is a loose association of sovereign states — the opposite of emergency centralization.

Correct Answer: B. Seventh Schedule

• **Seventh Schedule — Division of Powers** = contains the three legislative lists (Union, State, Concurrent) that form the basis for dividing law-making powers between Centre and States. • **Article 246** — this article directly refers to the Seventh Schedule, assigning legislative competence to Parliament (Union List), State Legislatures (State List), and both (Concurrent List). • 💡 Option A (Eighth Schedule) lists India's 22 official languages; Option C (Fifth Schedule) deals with administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes; Option D (Sixth Schedule) provides for autonomous district councils in tribal areas of the Northeast.

Correct Answer: B. Morarji Desai

• **First ARC — Morarji Desai (initial Chairman)** = Morarji Desai was the first Chairman of the First Administrative Reforms Commission (1966), which also. • **K. Hanumanthaiah took over** — when Morarji Desai became Deputy Prime Minister, K. Hanumanthaiah succeeded him as Chairman to complete the commission's work. • 💡 Option A (Veerappa Moily) chaired the Second ARC (2005), not the First ARC (1966); Option C (V. Ramachandran) was associated with administrative reforms but did not chair the First ARC; Option D (K. Hanumanthaiah) was the successor chairman of the First ARC, not its first chairman.

Correct Answer: B. Union Government

• **Corporation Tax — Union Government** = levied and collected exclusively by the Union Government; it is a major source of revenue and falls under the Union List of the Seventh Schedule. • **Not shared like Income Tax** — unlike income tax whose proceeds are shared with States, corporation tax goes entirely to the Union Government. • 💡 Option A (Local Bodies) have no authority to levy any national tax like corporation tax; Option C (State Government) can levy agricultural income tax but not corporation tax; Option D (Jointly by Union and State) is incorrect — corporation tax is exclusively a Union levy, though some taxes are shared.

Correct Answer: B. 1988

• **Sarkaria Commission Final Report — 1988** = submitted its final report in January 1988, about five years after being constituted in 1983, containing 247 recommendations. • **247 recommendations** — the comprehensive report covered legislative, administrative, financial, and emergency-related aspects of Centre-State relations. • 💡 Option A (1992) is four years after the report was submitted; Option C (1990) is when the Inter-State Council was set up following the report's recommendation, not when the report was submitted; Option D (1985) is while the commission was still doing its work.