In relation to the powers of the Union Government of India, which one of the following statements is NOT correct?

Correct — B, The Union Government may not entrust a State Government with functions over matters where executive power of the Union extends. Read the words may not carefully, because the whole item turns on them and they are not capitalised or emphasised in any way. Article 258(1) provides the opposite of what the option says — the President may, with the consent of a State Government, entrust to that Government or to its officers functions relating to any matter to which the executive power of the Union extends. That entrusting is a routine part of Indian administration, since the Union has no field machinery of its own in most subjects and works through State officers. The option denies a power the Constitution expressly grants, so it is the statement that is not correct.

• (a)The Government of India may undertake legislative functions of a territory outside of India by agreement with the Government of that territory — Correct as stated, and it reproduces Article 260. India may, by agreement with a foreign territory's government, take on executive, legislative or judicial functions vested in that government.
• (c)The Union Government may direct States for construction and maintenance of means of communication of military importance — Correct as stated, under Article 257(2). The Union may direct a State on the construction and maintenance of means of communication declared to be of national or military importance, and extra costs are met by the Union.
• (d)The Governor may, with consent of Government of India, entrust its officers with functions on matters which fall within the executive power of the State — Correct as stated, and it reproduces Article 258A. That article is the mirror of Article 258, running from the State to the Union, and it was added by the Seventh Amendment in 1956.

Articles 256 to 261 govern administrative relations between the Union and the States. Article 256 requires a State to exercise its executive power so as to ensure compliance with the laws of Parliament. Article 257 requires it not to impede the Union's executive power and lets the Union give directions on communications of national or military importance and on the protection of railways. Articles 258 and 258A allow functions to be entrusted in either direction with the other side's consent. Article 260 covers functions in territories outside India, and Article 261 requires full faith and credit to be given to public acts and records across the Union.

Two-way entrustment is the practical heart of this cluster. The Union legislates on a great many subjects for which it has no administrative machinery on the ground, so it entrusts execution to State governments and State officers, with the State's consent and with the extra cost met by the Union. Article 258A was inserted in 1956 to allow the traffic to run the other way, so that a State could hand a function to the Union — the standard use is a large project a State would rather have a central agency execute. Consent on both sides is what keeps these provisions inside the federal scheme rather than being an instrument of control, and it is why they read very differently from the directions power in Article 257.

• Article 258(1) lets the President, with the State's consent, entrust Union functions to a State Government or its officers.
• Article 258A lets the Governor, with the consent of the Government of India, entrust State functions to the Union or its officers; it was added by the Seventh Amendment in 1956.
• Article 257 obliges a State not to impede the Union's executive power and allows Union directions on communications of national or military importance.
• Article 260 permits the Government of India to undertake executive, legislative or judicial functions of a territory outside India by agreement.
• Extra administrative costs imposed on a State by a Union direction or entrustment are borne by the Union.

• Skimming past a negative buried in the middle of a long option.
• Confusing Article 258 with Article 258A; the direction of the entrustment is reversed between them.
• Reading the entrustment power as unilateral — consent from the receiving side is required in both directions.

In a NOT item, mark the negatives in every option before judging any of them. A single may not can turn a correctly quoted article into the answer.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article may the President, with the consent of a State Government, entrust Union functions to that State?

  • (a)Article 256
  • (b)Article 257
  • (c)Article 258
  • (d)Article 260

  Answer(c) Article 258 — Article 258A is the mirror provision running from the State to the Union.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Article 261 of the Constitution of India deals with which one of the following?

  • (a)Directions to States on communications of military importance
  • (b)Full faith and credit to public acts and records across the Union
  • (c)Adjudication of disputes relating to inter-State rivers
  • (d)The Inter-State Council

  Answer(b) Full faith and credit to public acts and records across the Union — river disputes are under Article 262 and the Inter-State Council under Article 263.