SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 22 September 2025, Shift 1 · General Awareness · Question 25 of 98

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.

Consider the following statements: 1. Inter-State Council was established in 1990 on the recommendation of Sarkaria Commission. 2. It is a constitutional body under Article 263. 3. It has powers to enforce compliance among States. Which of the above is/are correct?

(a)1 and 2 only
(b)2 and 3 only
(c)1 and 3 only
(d)1, 2 and 3

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Statement 1: the Inter-State Council was set up by Presidential Order on 28 May 1990, on the Sarkaria Commission's recommendation. True.

Statement 2: it rests on Article 263, which lets the President establish such a council by order. True.

Statement 3: the Council is a recommendatory body and cannot enforce anything on States. False.

1 and 2 only → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
2 and 3 only — Statement 3 is false, so this pair fails. The 1990 Order makes the Council a recommendatory body: it advises, it does not enforce.
(c)
1 and 3 only — Statement 3 is false. Article 263 speaks of inquiring, advising, investigating, discussing and recommending, and gives the Council no power to compel a State.
(d)
1, 2 and 3 — All three cannot stand, because statement 3 gives an advisory body enforcement powers it does not have.

Concept

Article 263 lets the President, where public interest would be served, establish a council to inquire into and advise on disputes between States, to investigate subjects of common interest, and to make recommendations for better co-ordination of policy and action.

The Inter-State Council was set up under it on 28 May 1990, after the Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations recommended it. The Prime Minister chairs it.

Article 263 does not itself create the Council: it empowers the President to establish one by order. That is why some books call it a constitutional body and others a body set up under a constitutional provision. The key reads statement 2 as correct.

The 1990 Order also left out Article 263's dispute-advising duty.

Key facts

Article 263: the President may establish an inter-State council by order.
The Inter-State Council was set up by Presidential Order on 28 May 1990, on the Sarkaria Commission's recommendation.
The Prime Minister chairs it, and all State Chief Ministers are members.
The Sarkaria Commission on Centre-State relations was set up in 1983.

Study next

Sarkaria and Punchhi Commissions on Centre-State relationsZonal Councils under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956Inter-State river water disputes under Article 262

Common traps

Crediting an advisory body with enforcement power: the Council recommends, it cannot compel a State.
Dating the Council to the Sarkaria Commission's start: the Commission was set up in 1983, the Council in 1990.

21 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.18 tests the same body (PM as head, recommendatory rather than a tribunal), and 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.15 orders Sarkaria report, Council and Punchhi Commission, keyed A-B-C. 20 Sep 2025, 09:00, GA Q.14 asks when the Sarkaria Commission was set up, keyed 1983.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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