MPSC 2026 Prelims Paper-I · Question 80 of 100

Correct — option (2), '(a), (b)'. Statements (a) and (b) both come straight from the constitutional text; statement (c) is contradicted by events. Article 263 provides that if at any time it appears to the President that the public interest would be served by the establishment of a Council charged with the duty of inquiring into and advising upon disputes which may have arisen between States, or of investigating and discussing subjects in which some or all of the States, or the Union and one or more States, have a common interest, or of making recommendations upon any such subject and in particular for the better coordination of policy and action, it shall be LAWFUL FOR THE PRESIDENT BY ORDER to establish such a Council and to define its duties, its organisation and its procedure. That single sentence establishes statement (a) — the Council is provided for in Article 263 — and statement (b) — the power to establish it rests with the President, exercised by order rather than by legislation. Statement (c) asserts that the power has never been used. It has. The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations, which reported in the late 1980s, recommended a permanent Inter-State Council under Article 263, and the Council was duly constituted by a Presidential Order in 1990. It is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes the Chief Ministers of all States, the Chief Ministers of Union Territories having a Legislative Assembly, the Administrators of Union Territories without one, the Governors of States under President's rule, and six Central Cabinet Ministers including the Home Minister, nominated by the Prime Minister. Two statements standing and one falling gives option (2).

• (1)(a), (b), (c) — This option admits all three statements, and so requires statement (c) — the claim that the President has never exercised the power — to be true. It is not: the Inter-State Council was established by Presidential Order in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission's recommendation, and Article 263 had in fact been used earlier still, to set up bodies such as the Central Council of Health and the Central Council of Local Government. Statement (c) also carries a warning of its own construction: it is an absolute, using 'never' and 'not so far'. An absolute is falsified by a single counter-example, which makes it the cheapest kind of statement to test and the riskiest kind to accept.
• (3)(b), (c) — This option keeps the false statement (c) and discards the true statement (a), which is the least contestable proposition in the set — the Inter-State Council is expressly the subject of Article 263, and nothing turns on interpretation. The combination is also internally odd: it accepts that the President is empowered to establish the Council, which is a proposition drawn from Article 263, while denying that the Council is mentioned in Article 263. An option that relies on one half of a provision and rejects the other half should not survive a second look.
• (4)(a), (c) — Here the true statement (b) is discarded and the false statement (c) retained. Statement (b) is the operative half of Article 263: the Article does not itself create a Council, it authorises the President to create one by order and to define its duties, organisation and procedure. That design is deliberate — it lets the machinery of Centre-State consultation be shaped and reshaped by executive order as circumstances require, without a constitutional amendment or an Act of Parliament. Rejecting statement (b) usually reflects an assumption that a constitutional body must be created by legislation, which is exactly what Article 263 does not require.

Article 263 sits in the part of the Constitution dealing with relations between the Union and the States, and it provides machinery for consultation rather than adjudication. The Council it authorises has three possible charges: to inquire into and advise upon disputes that have arisen between States; to investigate and discuss subjects in which some or all States, or the Union and one or more States, have a common interest; and to make recommendations on such subjects, particularly for the better coordination of policy and action. Two features of the design are worth noting. First, the Council is created by Presidential ORDER, not by statute, and the same order defines its duties, organisation and procedure — so its shape can be altered without amending the Constitution or passing a law. Second, its function is recommendatory throughout. It advises on inter-State disputes; it does not decide them. Adjudication of inter-State water disputes, for instance, belongs to tribunals constituted under Article 262 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, which is a different Article and a different mechanism altogether.

The Inter-State Council was constituted in 1990 by a Presidential Order following the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations, which had been appointed in 1983 under Justice R.S. Sarkaria to examine the working of the federal arrangement. The Prime Minister chairs it; its membership brings together the Chief Ministers of all States, the Chief Ministers of Union Territories with a Legislative Assembly, the Administrators of the remaining Union Territories, the Governors of States under President's rule, and six Union Cabinet Ministers including the Home Minister, nominated by the Prime Minister. The order envisaged that it should meet at least three times a year. A Standing Committee of the Council, chaired by the Union Home Minister, was constituted in 1996 for continuous consultation, and an Inter-State Council Secretariat was set up in 1991 under a Secretary to the Government of India. Article 263 had been used before 1990 as well, to establish bodies such as the Central Council of Health and the Central Council of Local Government. The Council should not be confused with the Zonal Councils, which are statutory and not constitutional bodies: five of them were created by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, with the Union Home Minister as their common chairman, and the North-Eastern Council was created separately by its own Act of 1971.

• Article 263 empowers the PRESIDENT, by order, to establish an Inter-State Council where it appears that the public interest would be served, and to define its duties, organisation and procedure. It is created by executive order, not by statute.
• The Council's three possible charges under the Article: inquiring into and advising upon disputes between States; investigating and discussing subjects of common interest to the States, or to the Union and States; and making recommendations, particularly for better coordination of policy and action. Its role is advisory throughout.
• The Inter-State Council was established by Presidential Order in 1990, on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State Relations, which was appointed in 1983 under Justice R.S. Sarkaria.
• Composition: the Prime Minister as chairman; the Chief Ministers of all States; the Chief Ministers of Union Territories having a Legislative Assembly; the Administrators of Union Territories without one; the Governors of States under President's rule; and six Union Cabinet Ministers including the Home Minister, nominated by the Prime Minister. A Standing Committee chaired by the Union Home Minister was set up in 1996, and an Inter-State Council Secretariat in 1991.
• Distinguish it from the Zonal Councils, which are STATUTORY bodies — five created by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 with the Union Home Minister as common chairman, and the North-Eastern Council created by a separate Act of 1971. Also distinguish Article 263 from Article 262, under which inter-State water disputes are adjudicated by tribunals.

• Accepting an absolute. Statement (c) says the power has 'never' been exercised, and a single Presidential Order in 1990 destroys it. Absolutes are the cheapest statements to falsify and should always be tested first.
• Assuming a constitutional body must be created by an Act of Parliament. Article 263 lets the President create the Council by order and define its duties, organisation and procedure in the same order.
• Confusing Article 263 with Article 262. The Council under 263 advises on inter-State disputes; water disputes are adjudicated by tribunals under Article 262 and the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

Federal-machinery questions are set in three shapes. The classification question asks whether a named body is constitutional, statutory or executive — the Inter-State Council against the Zonal Councils, the Finance Commission against NITI Aayog, and so on. The provision question asks which Article deals with a named body or function, with Articles 262 and 263 offered together to see whether adjudication and consultation have been kept apart. The composition question asks who chairs a body and who sits on it, and here the Prime Minister's chairmanship of the Inter-State Council contrasts usefully with the Union Home Minister's chairmanship of the Zonal Councils and of the Council's own Standing Committee. This paper's multi-statement form bundles the first two together, and the falsifier is a factual claim about whether the power was ever used — a shape that state commissions favour and that rewards knowing the year of establishment, not merely the Article.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Inter-State Council established under Article 263 of the Constitution is chaired by :

  • (a)the President of India
  • (b)the Prime Minister
  • (c)the Union Home Minister
  • (d)the Vice-President of India

  Answer(b) the Prime Minister — who chairs the Council, while the Union Home Minister chairs its Standing Committee constituted in 1996 and is also the common chairman of the five Zonal Councils. The President's role under Article 263 is to establish the Council by order and define its duties, organisation and procedure, not to preside over it.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following pairs is correctly matched?

  • (a)Zonal Councils — a constitutional body under Article 263
  • (b)Inter-State Council — a statutory body under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956
  • (c)Inter-State Council — provided for by Article 263 and established by Presidential Order
  • (d)North-Eastern Council — established by a Presidential Order under Article 263

  Answer(c) Inter-State Council — provided for by Article 263 and established by Presidential Order, in 1990, on the recommendation of the Sarkaria Commission. The five Zonal Councils are statutory bodies created by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, and the North-Eastern Council was created by its own Act of 1971 — neither owes anything to Article 263.