CDS (I) 2024 General Knowledge · Question 70 of 120

Correct — C, Precious metals are taxed at a rate of 1% under GST. This is the statement that is not correct: the rate on gold, silver and platinum was fixed at 3 per cent, not 1 per cent, when the GST Council settled the schedules in May 2017, and it stayed there. The figure is easy to misremember because the bullion trade lobbied for a rate near 1 per cent and because 0.25 per cent, 1.5 per cent and 3 per cent all appear together in the same chapter of the tariff. The other three statements survive scrutiny. The Constitution's own definition of GST, in Article 366(12A), reads that goods and services tax means any tax on supply of goods, or services or both except taxes on the supply of the alcoholic liquor for human consumption — alcohol alone, which is what statement (b) says of the amendment carried by the 122nd Bill. Article 279A(5) then leaves it to the GST Council to recommend the date on which GST is to be levied on petroleum crude, high speed diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel, so those five are inside the definition and merely deferred. The earlier 115th Amendment Bill of 2011 had drafted the exclusion more widely, keeping the five petroleum products out along with alcohol, which is statement (a). And unworked, or rough, diamond does sit at 0.25 per cent.

• (a)Amendment 115 to the Constitution of India kept alcohol for human use and five petroleum products outside the ambit of GST. — This is correct, so it is not the answer. The 2011 Bill's proposed definition of GST excluded alcoholic liquor for human consumption together with petroleum crude, high speed diesel, petrol, natural gas and aviation turbine fuel. That Bill lapsed.
• (b)Amendment 122 to the Constitution of India kept only alcohol for human use outside the ambit of GST. — This is correct. The definition inserted as Article 366(12A) carves out only alcoholic liquor for human consumption; the five petroleum products fall within GST and Article 279A(5) merely leaves the start date to the GST Council.
• (d)Unworked diamond is taxed at a rate of 0·25%. — This is correct. Rough or sawn diamond is charged at 0.25 per cent. The rate on cut and polished diamonds was separately raised from 0.25 to 1.5 per cent at the 47th GST Council meeting in July 2022, but the unworked stone stayed where it was.

GST rests on a constitutional amendment and a set of rate schedules, and the question probes both. The amendment carried by the 122nd Bill became the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016. It inserted Article 246A giving the Union and the States concurrent power to tax supply, Article 279A creating the GST Council, and a definition in Article 366(12A) that fixes what GST can reach. The rates themselves are not in the Constitution at all — they are set by notification on the Council's recommendation, which is why they move.

The bill number against the amendment number is a standing source of confusion, and this paper leans on it. A constitutional amendment is numbered as a Bill when introduced and renumbered as an Act when passed, so the 115th Bill of 2011 and the 122nd Bill of 2014 were two separate attempts at the same reform, and only the second one passed — as the 101st Amendment Act, 2016. The paper follows the common shorthand of calling them Amendment 115 and Amendment 122, which is the Bill numbering. Read the two statements as a before-and-after pair and the difference is the whole point: in 2011 petroleum was to be written out of GST altogether; in 2016 it was written in and switched off. Anchor the rates to the exam too. As of the April 2024 paper the special rates were 3 per cent on precious metals, 0.25 per cent on rough diamond and 1.5 per cent on cut and polished diamond, alongside main slabs of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent. Since then the structure has been overhauled: a rationalisation effective 22 September 2025 collapsed the main slabs towards 5 and 18 per cent with a separate high rate for a short list of goods, so any GST figure carried out of a 2024 paper needs its date attached.

• Article 366(12A) excludes only alcoholic liquor for human consumption from the definition of goods and services tax.
• Article 279A(5) leaves the GST Council to recommend the date for levying GST on the five petroleum products.
• The Constitution (115th Amendment) Bill, 2011 proposed excluding those five petroleum products along with alcohol; it lapsed.
• The 122nd Amendment Bill, 2014 was enacted as the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016.
• Gold, silver and platinum are charged at 3 per cent, rough diamond at 0.25 per cent, and cut and polished diamond at 1.5 per cent since July 2022.

• Confusing the Bill number with the Amendment Act number — the 122nd Bill became the 101st Amendment Act.
• Assuming petroleum products are constitutionally outside GST, when they are inside it with the levy date deferred.
• Carrying a GST rate out of an old paper without dating it; the schedules have been revised more than once.

Asked as a not-correct item that mixes two constitutional-history statements with two rate figures, so both halves of the GST syllabus are tested at once.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 was finally enacted as which Amendment Act?

  • (a)The 100th Amendment Act, 2015
  • (b)The 101st Amendment Act, 2016
  • (c)The 102nd Amendment Act, 2018
  • (d)The 122nd Amendment Act, 2016

  Answer(b) The 101st Amendment Act, 2016 — a constitutional amendment is renumbered when it is passed, so the Bill number and the Act number differ.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Constitution, who recommends the date from which GST is to be levied on petroleum crude and aviation turbine fuel?

  • (a)The Union Finance Minister
  • (b)The Finance Commission
  • (c)The GST Council
  • (d)Parliament by a special majority

  Answer(c) The GST Council — Article 279A(5) assigns it that recommendation.