Which one of the following is correctly matched ?
Constitutional Body — Constitutional Article

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — D, National Commission for Backward Classes – 340. Work through the set by elimination, because three of the four pairs are flatly wrong and can be struck out in seconds. The Election Commission is Article 324, not 165 — Article 165 provides for the Advocate-General for a State. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is Article 338, not 148 — Article 148 provides for the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. The Finance Commission is Article 280, not 263 — Article 263 is the provision under which the President may establish an Inter-State Council. That leaves (d), and Article 340 is the Constitution's backward-classes provision: it empowers the President to appoint a Commission to investigate the conditions of the socially and educationally backward classes, the difficulties they labour under, and the steps that should be taken to remove those difficulties. It is the Article under which the First Backward Classes Commission headed by Kaka Kalelkar was appointed in 1953 and the Second, headed by B.P. Mandal, in 1979. So (d) is the pair the commission marks, and it is the only pair in the set with any genuine constitutional connection between the body and the Article named. One thing an honest card must add, because a well-prepared student will spot it. The standing National Commission for Backward Classes — the permanent body that today hears complaints and advises on the inclusion of communities in the Central list — is placed in Article 338B, inserted by the Constitution (One Hundred and Second Amendment) Act, 2018; before that it was a statutory body under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993. On the strictest reading the article for today's NCBC is 338B. But 338B does not appear anywhere in the option set, the other three pairs are wrong beyond argument, and Article 340 is the provision on which every backward-classes commission in Indian constitutional history has rested. Carry both numbers: 338B for the permanent Commission, 340 for the President's power to appoint a Backward Classes Commission.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Wrongly matched twice over. The Election Commission of India is provided for by Article 324, which vests the superintendence, direction and control of elections to Parliament, to the State legislatures, and to the offices of President and Vice-President in a Commission consisting of the Chief Election Commissioner and such other Election Commissioners as the President may fix. Article 165 belongs to an entirely different Part and provides for the Advocate-General for a State, the State's counterpart of the Attorney-General under Article 76.  (b) Wrongly matched. The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is Article 338; the 89th Amendment Act, 2003 split the earlier combined Commission and created a separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes under the newly inserted Article 338A. Article 148 provides for the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India — an officer, not a commission — and is the first Article of the CAG chapter that runs to Article 151.  (c) Wrongly matched, and the pairing is designed to exploit the fact that both Articles concern Centre-State relations. The Finance Commission is Article 280: the President constitutes it every fifth year, or earlier if he considers it necessary, to recommend the distribution of tax proceeds between the Union and the States and the principles governing grants-in-aid. Article 263 is the Inter-State Council provision, under which the President may by order establish a Council to inquire into and advise upon disputes and subjects of common interest between States, or between the Union and States.

Concept: A constitutional body is one created directly by an Article of the Constitution, so that its existence, and usually its composition, powers and independence, cannot be altered by ordinary legislation alone. The Election Commission (Article 324), the Comptroller and Auditor-General (Article 148), the Finance Commission (Article 280), the Union and State Public Service Commissions (Article 315), the Attorney-General (Article 76) and the Advocate-General (Article 165), the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338), for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A) and for Backward Classes (Article 338B), the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities (Article 350B) and the Inter-State Council (Article 263) are the standard list. Statutory bodies such as the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Minorities, and executive bodies such as NITI Aayog and the Law Commission, sit outside it.

State PCS 2024 Q125 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2024 Q125 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer