SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 16 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 September 2026.

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SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Which of the following statements regarding Article 270 are correct? 1) Article 270 governs the sharing of taxes between the Union and States, including proceeds from GST. 2) After the 101st Constitutional Amendment, Article 270 includes provisions for distributing revenue from Union taxes and GST. 3) The GST Compensation Cess is also shared between the Union and States under Article 270.

(a)1 and 3 only
(b)1 Only
(c)1 & 2 only
(d)2 & 3 only

Answer

Why

Correct — C. Test each statement against the text of Article 270.

Statement 1 is true. Clause (1A) says the tax the Union collects under Article 246A(1), the CGST, "shall also be distributed between the Union and the States".

Statement 2 is true. Clauses (1A) and (1B) were inserted by the 101st Amendment Act, 2016, the GST amendment.

Statement 3 is false. Clause (1) leaves out "any cess levied for specific purposes", so the Compensation Cess is not shared under it → option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1 and 3 only — Statement 3 is false, so this pairing fails. Article 270(1) keeps cesses levied for specific purposes out of the shared pool, and the Compensation Cess is such a cess.
(b)
1 Only — Statement 2 is true as well. The 101st Amendment, 2016 inserted clauses (1A) and (1B), bringing the Union's GST collections into the Article 270 pool, so '1 Only' drops a correct statement.
(d)
2 & 3 only — Statement 1 is true and statement 3 false, so this pairing gets both wrong. Clause (1A) shares the Union's GST collections, and clause (1) excludes specific-purpose cesses.

Concept

Article 270 sets up what is called the divisible pool. All Union List taxes, with a few exceptions, are collected by the Centre, and a prescribed share goes to the States, fixed by the President after considering the Finance Commission's recommendations.

Clause (1) keeps out the taxes in Articles 268, 269 and 269A, surcharges under Article 271, and cesses levied for specific purposes.

GST is levied under Article 246A, so the 101st Amendment added clauses (1A) and (1B) to share the Union's GST collections the same way.

The GST Compensation Cess was levied under the Goods and Services Tax (Compensation to States) Act, 2017. Its proceeds went into a separate GST Compensation Fund, from which States were compensated for revenue lost in the move to GST.

So the cess reached the States as compensation from that fund, not as a share under Article 270.

Key facts

Article 270(1) excludes from the shared pool the taxes in Articles 268, 269 and 269A, surcharges under Article 271, and cesses levied for specific purposes.
Clauses (1A) and (1B) of Article 270, inserted by the 101st Amendment Act, 2016, share the Union's GST collections with the States.
The present Article 270 was substituted by the Constitution (Eightieth Amendment) Act, 2000.
The Fifteenth Finance Commission set the States' share of the divisible pool at 41% for 2021-26.

Study next

Articles 268, 269 and 269A: taxes kept outside the divisible poolArticle 279A and weighted voting in the GST CouncilVertical and horizontal devolution under the Finance Commission

Common traps

Assuming every GST-linked levy is shared under Article 270: the Compensation Cess went to a separate fund.
Thinking Article 270 was written for GST: it predates GST, and the 101st Amendment only added clauses (1A) and (1B).

Here three statements about one Article are tested separately, so each must be checked against the text. The 101st Amendment is asked from the other side at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.4 (the amendment behind the GST Council), and the Finance Commission's advisory role at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.15.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 308 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.