CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 64 of 120

Correct — B, six months. The Punchhi Commission's reasoning is set out in Volume II of its report and repeated in its summary of recommendations. Article 201 already binds the State Legislature to a six-month limit for reconsidering a Bill that the President has returned with a message, while nothing at all binds the President, so a reserved Bill can be held back indefinitely — in the Commission's words, retained at the Central level even beyond the life of the State Legislature. Its recommendation is that the same six-month period in Article 201 be made applicable to the President for deciding whether to assent to or withhold assent from a Bill reserved for consideration. The Commission recommended six months for the Governor's own decision as well.

• (a)four months. — Four months is not a period that appears anywhere in this part of the scheme; the Commission's whole argument is that a limit already written into Article 201 should be borrowed, and that limit is six months.
• (c)eight months. — Eight months corresponds to nothing in Articles 200 and 201. The Commission was looking for a period the Constitution had already settled on, not proposing a fresh one.
• (d)five months. — Five months is close enough to the right answer to be tempting, but the figure carried over from Article 201 is six.

Under Article 200 a Governor presented with a State Bill may assent, withhold assent, return a non-Money Bill for reconsideration, or reserve it for the President. Once reserved, Article 201 lets the President assent or withhold assent, and if the Bill is returned with a message the State Legislature must reconsider it within six months. The Commission on Centre-State Relations under former Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi was set up in 2007 and reported in March 2010 in seven volumes with four supplementary volumes.

The item rewards a candidate who reads it as a constitutional-arithmetic question rather than a recall question. The only number the Constitution supplies in this corner of the scheme is the six months of Article 201, and a commission arguing for symmetry would naturally reach for it. One printed slip is worth noting honestly: the paper says the Bill is reserved for the consideration of the Union Executive, whereas Article 200 reserves it for the President. The two are close in practice, since the President acts on ministerial advice, but the Constitution's word is President. The subject has since become live: in State of Tamil Nadu v. Governor of Tamil Nadu, decided on 8 April 2025, the Supreme Court held that a Governor cannot sit on a Bill indefinitely and laid down time limits of its own — one month to withhold assent or reserve a Bill, three months where the Governor acts against ministerial advice.

• The Commission on Centre-State Relations chaired by former Chief Justice M.M. Punchhi was constituted in 2007 and reported in March 2010.
• Article 201 gives the State Legislature six months to reconsider a Bill returned by the President; it sets no time limit for the President.
• The Commission recommended that the same six-month period be applied to the President's decision on a reserved Bill.
• It also recommended that the Governor decide on a Bill within a maximum of six months of its submission.
• Its report runs to seven main volumes plus four supplementary volumes on task-force reports, research studies, stakeholder responses and regional consultations.

• Reading the six months as a constitutional requirement; it is a recommendation, and Article 201 still binds only the State Legislature.
• Mixing up the Governor's own decision window with the President's — the Commission proposed six months for each, for different acts.
• Assuming the Punchhi Commission simply repeated Sarkaria; on reserved Bills it went further by proposing a hard deadline.

As a numbers item on a commission's recommendation, or as a statements question on Articles 200 and 201 and the fate of a reserved Bill.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under Article 201 of the Constitution of India, within what period must a State Legislature reconsider a Bill returned to it with a message from the President?

  • (a)Three months
  • (b)Six months
  • (c)One year
  • (d)No period is specified

  Answer(b) Six months — this is the only time limit the Article contains, and the Punchhi Commission proposed applying it to the President as well.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Commission on Centre-State Relations that submitted its report in 2010 was chaired by which one of the following?

  • (a)Justice R.S. Sarkaria
  • (b)Justice M.M. Punchhi
  • (c)Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah
  • (d)Justice B.N. Srikrishna

  Answer(b) Justice M.M. Punchhi — a former Chief Justice of India; the Sarkaria Commission on the same subject had reported in 1988.