SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 23 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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Arrange the following in chronological order: 1. GST Council constituted 2. Constitution (101st Amendment) Act enacted 3. GST launched Choose the correct chronological sequence:

(a)1-2-3
(b)2-1-3
(c)3-2-1
(d)2-3-1

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The GST Council exists under Article 279A, which the amendment itself inserted, so the Act has to come first.

Statement 2: the Constitution (101st Amendment) Act received assent on 8 September 2016.
Statement 1: Article 279A(1) then had the President constitute the Council within sixty days of the Act's commencement.
Statement 3: GST was launched on 1 July 2017.

2-1-3 → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
1-2-3 — 1-2-3 puts the Council before the Act. The Council exists only because the 101st Amendment inserted Article 279A.
(c)
3-2-1 — 3-2-1 reverses the whole order. GST's launch on 1 July 2017 came after both 2016 events.
(d)
2-3-1 — 2-3-1 has GST launched before the Council existed. The Council was due within sixty days of the Act's commencement in 2016, well before the July 2017 launch.

Concept

GST merged taxes that the Union and the states each levied under separate constitutional powers, so it needed a constitutional amendment.

The 101st Amendment inserted Article 246A (power to levy GST), Article 269A (inter-state supply) and Article 279A (the GST Council). The Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister, recommends rates, exemptions and thresholds.

The Bill and the Act carry different numbers. It was introduced as the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014, and became the 101st Amendment Act.

Key facts

Constitution (101st Amendment) Act, 2016: Presidential assent on 8 September 2016.
Article 279A(1): the President was to constitute the GST Council within sixty days of the Act's commencement.
GST came into force on 1 July 2017.
Council decisions need three-fourths of the weighted votes, with the Centre holding one-third and the states two-thirds.

Study next

Articles 246A, 269A and 279AGST Council composition and weighted votingWhat stays outside GST: alcohol for human consumption, and petroleum products until the Council recommends a date

Common traps

Putting the Council first because it shaped GST's rates — the Council itself was created by the amendment.
Mixing up the Bill number (122nd) with the Act number (101st).

The amendment is asked by number at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, GA Q.4 (keyed 101st), the Council's chair at 19 Sep 2025, 16:00, GA Q.13 (Union Finance Minister) and its voting majority at 13 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.14 (three-fourths).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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