UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 38 of 147

Correct — B, Article 263.

Article 263 is the provision on the Inter-State Council. It says that if it appears to the President that the public interests would be served by a Council, the President may by order establish one and define its duties, organisation and procedure.

The Article lists three duties: inquiring into and advising upon disputes between States; investigating and discussing subjects of common interest to the States, or to the Union and one or more States; and making recommendations for better coordination of policy and action.

The Council itself was set up by a Presidential Order dated 28 May 1990, after the Sarkaria Commission recommended a permanent body under this Article. The idea to carry away: Article 263 enables a Council; the 1990 order created it.

The Article sits in Part XI of the Constitution, Relations between the Union and the States, in the chapter on administrative relations. The other three options come from the Emergency (360), Miscellaneous (365) and Amendment (368) parts, which is what makes them distractors.

• (a)
  Article 360 — Article 360 provides for a Proclamation of Financial Emergency. The President may issue it on being satisfied that the financial stability or credit of India, or of any part of its territory, is threatened. It sits in Part XVIII, Emergency Provisions.

  During such an emergency the Union may direct a State to observe canons of financial propriety, including reducing the salaries of persons serving the State. It has not been proclaimed so far. This option answers a question about Financial Emergency, not about any council.

• (c)
  Article 365 — Article 365 deals with a State that fails to comply with, or to give effect to, directions given by the Union in the exercise of its executive power.

  It then becomes lawful for the President to hold that the government of the State cannot be carried on in accordance with the Constitution.

  Article 365 sits in Part XIX (Miscellaneous), though its effect feeds into President's Rule under Article 356 in Part XVIII. It answers a question about the consequence of a State ignoring Union directions, the opposite of a consultative council.

• (d)
  Article 368 — Article 368 gives Parliament the power to amend the Constitution and lays down the procedure: a Bill passed in each House by a majority of the total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting, with ratification by at least half the State legislatures for the federal provisions listed in its proviso.

  It is the sole Article of Part XX. It answers a question about the constitutional amendment procedure, or about the basic-structure limit that Kesavananda Bharati (1973) placed on that power.

Article 263 is an enabling provision. The Constitution does not itself create an Inter-State Council; it authorises the President to establish one by order when the public interest calls for it, and to define its duties, organisation and procedure.

The three duties in the Article are advisory and coordinating: advising on inter-State disputes, discussing subjects of common interest to the Union and the States, and recommending better coordination of policy. Its output is recommendations, not binding decisions.

The Council set up in 1990 is chaired by the Prime Minister.

Its members include the Chief Ministers of all States and of Union Territories with a Legislative Assembly, the Administrators of the other Union Territories, the Governors of States under President's Rule, and six Union Cabinet Ministers nominated by the Prime Minister.

• Article 263 empowers the President to establish an Inter-State Council by order if the public interests would be served, and to define its duties, organisation and procedure.
• The Article assigns three duties: advising on inter-State disputes, discussing subjects of common interest to the Union and the States, and recommending better coordination of policy and action.
• The Sarkaria Commission recommended a permanent Inter-State Council, to be called the Inter-Governmental Council, under Article 263.
• The Inter-State Council was established by a Presidential Order dated 28 May 1990; its first meeting was held on 10 October 1990.
• The Prime Minister chairs the Council; its members include the Chief Ministers of all States, the Chief Ministers or Administrators of Union Territories, and six Union Cabinet Ministers he nominates.
• A Standing Committee of the Council, chaired by the Union Home Minister, was set up in 1996 following a decision at the Council's second meeting.
• The Inter-State Council Secretariat, set up in 1991 under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has also serviced the Zonal Councils since 1 April 2011.
• The Council's eleventh meeting, on 16 July 2016, was its first in nearly ten years; the tenth had been held on 9 December 2006.
• Article 262 provides for adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-State rivers; Parliament enacted the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 under it.
• Article 360 (Financial Emergency) is in Part XVIII, Emergency Provisions; Article 365 (failure to comply with Union directions) is in Part XIX, Miscellaneous; Article 368 is the amendment Article of Part XX.
• Zonal Councils are statutory bodies under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and are chaired by the Union Home Minister; the North Eastern Council was created by an Act of 1971.

• Reading Article 365 as a Union-State relations provision because it mentions Union directions to a State. It is placed in Part XIX, Miscellaneous, and its effect is to supply a ground for President's Rule under Article 356; the Council in Article 263 is consultative.
• Sliding from Article 262 to Article 263. Both concern inter-State matters, but 262 is about adjudicating river water disputes and 263 is about a council for advice and coordination.
• Assuming that a body set up in 1990 must have a 1990 statute or amendment behind it. The Council was created by a Presidential Order under an Article that has been in the Constitution since it commenced in 1950.
• Carrying the Zonal Councils' features onto the Inter-State Council. The Zonal Councils are statutory and chaired by the Home Minister; the Inter-State Council is chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Home Minister chairing its Standing Committee.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Inter-State Council: 1. It was established by a Presidential Order under Article 263 of the Constitution. 2. Its recommendations are binding on the Union and the States. 3. The Prime Minister is its Chairman. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)1 and 3 only
  • (c)2 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3
  Answerb — Statement 1 is right: a Presidential Order dated 28 May 1990 set up the Council under Article 263. Statement 3 is right: the Prime Minister chairs it.

  Statement 2 fails because Article 263 gives the Council duties of inquiry, discussion and recommendation; its output is advice, which the Union and the States are free to act on or not. (a) and (d) include the false statement 2, and (c) drops the true statement 1.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which Article of the Constitution of India provides for the adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-State rivers?

  • (a)Article 261
  • (b)Article 262
  • (c)Article 263
  • (d)Article 264
  Answerb — Article 262 provides for adjudication of disputes relating to the waters of inter-State rivers or river valleys and lets Parliament exclude the courts from such disputes, which it did through the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956.

  (a) Article 261 deals with public acts, records and judicial proceedings. (c) Article 263 is the Inter-State Council provision. (d) Article 264 is the interpretation clause that opens Part XII on finance.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following bodies: 1. Inter-State Council 2. Zonal Councils 3. North Eastern Council Which of the above are statutory bodies, created by an Act of Parliament?

  • (a)1 only
  • (b)1 and 2 only
  • (c)2 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3
  Answerc — The Zonal Councils were created by the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 and the North Eastern Council by the North Eastern Council Act, 1971, so both are statutory.

  The Inter-State Council was set up by a Presidential Order under Article 263 of the Constitution, not by an Act of Parliament. (a), (b) and (d) each count it as statutory, so each fails.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council is chaired by the

  • (a)Prime Minister
  • (b)Union Home Minister
  • (c)Union Finance Minister
  • (d)Vice-President of India
  Answerb — The Standing Committee of the Inter-State Council was constituted in 1996 under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister, pursuant to the decision of the Council's second meeting held on 15 October 1996.

  (a) The Prime Minister chairs the Council itself, not its Standing Committee. (c) and (d) name offices that chair neither the Council nor its Standing Committee.