SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 18 September 2025, Shift 2 · General Awareness · Question 13 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 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

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.

Fill in the blanks: The Union Home Minister chairs a Zonal Council meeting as ____ chairman.

(a)ex-officio
(b)rotating
(c)ceremonial
(d)honorary

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Ex officio means 'by virtue of office'. The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of the five Zonal Councils because of the office held, not by election or turn.

The post that rotates is the Vice-Chairman's: the Chief Ministers of the zone's States take it in turn, one year at a time → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
rotating — Rotation is the Vice-Chairman's rule. Chief Ministers of the member States hold that post in turn for one year at a time, while the Home Minister chairs every Council.
(c)
ceremonial — Ceremonial undersells the post. Under Section 17(1) of the States Reorganisation Act, each Council meets when its Chairman appoints.
(d)
honorary — Honorary implies a title without duties. The Chairman is a serving Union Minister who decides when the Council meets.

Concept

Zonal Councils were set up under Part III of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, to develop the habit of cooperative working among the reorganised States.

There are five: Northern, Central, Eastern, Western and Southern. They are advisory bodies. The North Eastern States are covered instead by the North Eastern Council, set up under its own Act.

Strictly, Section 16 of the Act gives the chair to 'a Union Minister to be nominated by the President'. The Ministry of Home Affairs records that the Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each Council, and the key reads that as an ex-officio chair.

Key facts

Zonal Councils were set up under Part III of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956.
The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of the five Zonal Councils.
The Chief Ministers of the member States act as Vice-Chairman by rotation, one year at a time.
The Chief Secretaries of the member States serve as Secretary of their Council by rotation, one year at a time.

Study next

North Eastern Council and its membershipInter-State Council under Article 263Member States and Union Territories of each Zonal Council

Common traps

Picking 'rotating' because rotation is part of the Zonal Council rules: it applies to the Vice-Chairman, not the Chairman.
Placing the North Eastern States in a Zonal Council: they are covered by the North Eastern Council.

Zonal Councils are also tested at 14 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.14 (the Act that created them) and 12 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.14 (a chronology running from the States Reorganisation Act to a 2022 Eastern Zonal Council meeting).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: General Policy — all 218 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.