UPPSC 2019 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 73 of 150

Correct — D, 'Extension of Executive Power of State'. The marginal heading printed in the Constitution reads 'Extent of executive power of State', and option (d) is the paper's rendering of that same heading — it is the only option that describes how far a State's executive power reaches rather than who holds it or for how long. Article 162 says that, subject to the provisions of the Constitution, the executive power of a State extends to the matters with respect to which the Legislature of the State has power to make laws; and the proviso adds that in any matter on which both the State Legislature and Parliament can legislate — that is, the Concurrent List — the State's executive power is subject to, and limited by, the executive power expressly conferred on the Union by the Constitution or by a law of Parliament. In one line: State executive power is co-extensive with State legislative power, and yields to the Union in the shared field. The other three options are not inventions — each is the heading of a different Article in the same chapter, which is what makes the question a test of precise placement rather than of vocabulary.

• (a)Executive Power of State — That is the heading of Article 154, not 162. Article 154 vests the executive power of the State in the Governor and provides that he exercises it directly or through officers subordinate to him. It answers the question 'in whom does the power vest?', whereas Article 162 answers 'how far does it extend?'. Dropping the word 'extent' turns the correct option into the wrong Article — the single sharpest distinction in this question.
• (b)Conditions of Governor's Office — That is Article 158. It lays down that the Governor shall not be a member of either House of Parliament or of a State Legislature, shall not hold any other office of profit, is entitled to the use of his official residence without rent, and that his emoluments and allowances shall not be diminished during his term. It concerns the office-holder's personal conditions, not the reach of executive power.
• (c)Term of the Office of Governor — That is Article 156 — the Governor holds office during the pleasure of the President, holds it for a term of five years from the date he enters upon it, and may resign by writing addressed to the President. Again a provision about the Governor as an individual, sitting a few Articles before 162 but on a completely different subject.

Chapter II of Part VI of the Constitution deals with the Executive of a State, and its Articles run in a logical order that is worth memorising as a block. Article 153 provides that there shall be a Governor for each State; 154 vests the State's executive power in him; 155 covers his appointment by the President; 156 his term of office; 157 the qualifications; 158 the conditions of his office; 161 the pardoning power; and 163 the Council of Ministers to aid and advise him. Article 162 stands slightly apart from this personal sequence because it is about the power itself rather than the person: it fixes the outer limit of State executive action. Its Union counterpart is Article 73, headed 'Extent of executive power of the Union', built on the same principle. The judicial gloss comes from Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab (1955), which read this scheme to mean that the executive may act on any subject within its legislature's competence even where no statute exists — but it cannot infringe a citizen's rights without the authority of law.

The examiner has built the question out of four real headings from the same chapter, so guessing by plausibility fails: every option sounds like something the Constitution would say. The decisive habit is to attach each heading to its number rather than to a vague sense of the topic. The pair to watch is (a) and (d): 'Executive power of State' is Article 154 and 'Extent of executive power of State' is Article 162 — the word 'extent' is doing all the work. Note also that the paper prints 'Extension' where the Constitution's heading says 'Extent'; it is a printing variant of the same option and the official key marks (d) correct, so treat the two words as the same choice here. One more reason Article 162 is worth knowing by number: it is one of the entrenched provisions listed in the proviso to Article 368(2), so a constitutional amendment touching it needs ratification by the legislatures of at least half the States — UPSC built a 2025 question on exactly that.

• Article 162 — marginal heading 'Extent of executive power of State'; the paper's option (d) is a printing variant of the same heading.
• The executive power of a State extends to the matters on which the State Legislature has power to make laws — executive power is co-extensive with legislative power.
• Proviso to Article 162: in a matter on which both Parliament and the State Legislature can legislate, the State's executive power is subject to and limited by the Union's executive power.
• Article 73 is the Union counterpart — 'Extent of executive power of the Union'.
• Nearby headings in the same chapter: Article 154 'Executive power of State', Article 156 'Term of office of Governor', Article 158 'Conditions of Governor's office'.
• Article 162 is named in the proviso to Article 368(2), so amending it requires ratification by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the States.
• Ram Jawaya Kapur v. State of Punjab (1955): the State may act executively on a subject within its legislative competence without a specific statute, but cannot affect citizens' rights without the authority of law.

• Reading option (a) 'Executive power of State' as Article 162 — that heading belongs to Article 154; the missing word 'extent' is the whole difference.
• Attaching the Governor's tenure or service conditions to Article 162 — they are Articles 156 and 158 respectively.
• Forgetting the proviso to Article 162: on Concurrent List subjects the State's executive power is limited by the Union's, so 'co-extensive with legislative power' is only the first half of the rule.

UPPSC likes the bare Article-number recall — 'which Article relates to X', or a NOT-correctly-matched Article-to-subject pair — so exact headings pay off; UPSC prefers to reach the same Article through a consequence, as in its 2025 question on which subjects need ratification by half the States, where 'extent of the executive power of a State' appears as one of the listed items.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The heading 'Extent of executive power of the Union' belongs to which Article of the Constitution of India?

  • (a)Article 53
  • (b)Article 73
  • (c)Article 77
  • (d)Article 162

  Answer(b) Article 73 — it is the Union counterpart of Article 162. Article 53 vests the executive power of the Union in the President, Article 77 deals with the conduct of business of the Government of India, and Article 162 covers the States.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the proviso to Article 368(2), an amendment affecting which one of the following requires ratification by the legislatures of not less than one-half of the States?

  • (a)Article 162 — extent of the executive power of a State
  • (b)Article 158 — conditions of the Governor's office
  • (c)Article 156 — term of office of the Governor
  • (d)Article 163 — Council of Ministers to aid and advise the Governor

  Answer(a) Article 162 — the proviso to Article 368(2) expressly names Article 162 among the entrenched provisions, alongside Articles 54, 55, 73, 241 and 279A and the Lists in the Seventh Schedule. The provisions on the Governor's tenure and conditions of office are not in that list.