With reference to creation of new All India Service, which of the following statements is/are correct ? 1. In the national interest, the Rajya Sabha can pass a resolution for creation of new All India Service. 2. The resolution for creation of new All India Service must be passed by the Rajya Sabha by two-third majority of the total members of the house. Select the correct answer from the code given below :
- (a)Only 2
- (b)Both 1 and 2
- (c)Neither 1 nor 2
- (d)Only 1
Correct — D, Only 1. Both statements are drawn from Article 312(1), and only the first reproduces it faithfully. The Article says that if the Council of States has declared by resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting that it is necessary or expedient in the national interest to do so, Parliament may by law provide for the creation of one or more All India Services common to the Union and the States. Statement 1 restates that: the initiative rests with the Rajya Sabha and the ground is the national interest. Statement 2 changes the arithmetic. The Constitution asks for two-thirds of the members present and voting — a figure that depends on who is in the House that day — not two-thirds of the total membership of the House, which is a fixed and much higher bar. That one substitution is what makes statement 2 wrong, so only statement 1 is correct.
- (a)Only 2 — It keeps the misstated majority and rejects the accurate statement. Statement 1 is a straight paraphrase of Article 312(1); statement 2 is not, because the required special majority is of members present and voting, not of the total membership.
- (b)Both 1 and 2 — The natural answer for a candidate who remembers 'two-thirds' but not what the two-thirds is counted on. 'Present and voting' and 'total membership' are two different tests in the Constitution and the Article uses the first.
- (c)Neither 1 nor 2 — This discards a correct statement. The Rajya Sabha's power to resolve, in the national interest, that a new All India Service be created is one of the two powers Article 312 and Article 249 give it exclusively — the Lok Sabha has no such role.
An All India Service is recruited centrally but serves both the Union and the States, so its officers sit in State administrations while the Union controls their cadre. Because such a service cuts into the States' own administrative space, the Constitution does not let the Lok Sabha initiate one. Under Article 312 the trigger has to come from the Council of States — the chamber that represents the States — by a resolution passed by not less than two-thirds of members present and voting on the ground of national interest. Only after that resolution may Parliament create the service by law.
This is a 'read the Article, not the summary' question, and the discriminator is the majority formula. The Constitution uses three different tests — simple majority, majority of total membership plus two-thirds present and voting (Article 368), and two-thirds of members present and voting alone (Articles 249 and 312). Article 312 uses the last and lightest of the three, with no reference to total membership at all. It is worth learning Article 249 and Article 312 as a pair: both are exclusive Rajya Sabha powers, both use the same two-thirds-present-and-voting formula, and both are justified by the same federal logic. The one difference is duration — a resolution under Article 249 lasts a year at a time, while a resolution under Article 312 carries no such expiry.
- Article 312(1): a Rajya Sabha resolution supported by not less than two-thirds of the members PRESENT AND VOTING, declaring it necessary or expedient in the national interest, empowers Parliament to create a new All India Service by law
- Article 312(2) deems the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service — both in existence when the Constitution commenced — to have been created under this Article
- The Indian Forest Service, constituted in 1966, is the one All India Service actually created by using the Article 312 route
- Article 312(3), inserted by the 42nd Amendment (1976), extended the Article to an All India Judicial Service; no such service has yet been created
- Article 249 gives the Rajya Sabha the parallel exclusive power to let Parliament legislate on a State List subject, using the identical two-thirds-present-and-voting formula; such a resolution lasts one year, whereas an Article 312 resolution has no time limit
- The All India Services Act, 1951 lays down recruitment and conditions of service, framed by the Union in consultation with the State governments
Statement 1 matches Article 312(1); statement 2 swaps 'present and voting' for 'total membership' and fails — hence option (d), Only 1.
- Assuming every constitutional 'two-thirds' is counted on the total membership of the House; Article 312 counts only members present and voting
- Thinking Parliament can create an All India Service directly; the Rajya Sabha resolution is a precondition, not a formality that can be skipped
- Believing the All India Judicial Service already exists because Article 312(3) provides for it — the enabling clause was added in 1976 but no such service has been created
UPPSC tests the exact wording of the Article — which House, which majority, on what ground. UPSC prefers the comparative framing: which powers belong to the Rajya Sabha alone, and where the two Houses are equal or unequal.
Which of the following special powers have been conferred on the Rajya Sabha by the Constitution of India?
- (a) To change the existing territory of a State and to change the name of a State
- (b) To pass a resolution empowering the Parliament to make laws in the State List and to create one or more All India Services
- (c) To amend the election procedure of the President and to determine the pension of the President after his/her retirement
- (d) To determine the functions of the Election Commission and to determine the number of Election Commissioners
Answer(b) To pass a resolution empowering the Parliament to make laws in the State List and to create one or more All India Services
The same two Articles, asked as a pair. UPSC's correct option bundles Article 249 (Parliament legislating on a State List entry) with Article 312 (creating an All India Service) as the Rajya Sabha's exclusive powers — exactly the constitutional slot statement 1 of this question occupies.
Rajya Sabha has equal powers with Lok Sabha in
- (a) the matter of creating new All India Services
- (b) amending the Constitution
- (c) the removal of the government
- (d) making cut motions
Answer(b) amending the Constitution
Here 'the matter of creating new All India Services' is a distractor rather than the answer, and that is the point: on All India Services the Rajya Sabha does not have equal power with the Lok Sabha, it has a power the Lok Sabha lacks. The Houses are equal only in amending the Constitution.
Which of the following Bills can NOT be first introduced in Rajya Sabha ?
- (a) Ordinary Bill
- (b) Constitutional Amendment Bill
- (c) State Re-organisation Bill
- (d) Money Bill
Answer(d) Money Bill
The other face of the same topic — where the Rajya Sabha's powers stop. It can initiate an All India Service that the Lok Sabha cannot, but it cannot originate a Money Bill. UPPSC keeps returning to this asymmetry between the two Houses.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Under which Article of the Constitution can Parliament provide for the creation of a new All India Service?
- (a)Article 309
- (b)Article 310
- (c)Article 312
- (d)Article 315
Answer(c) Article 312 — and only after the Rajya Sabha has passed the enabling resolution by two-thirds of the members present and voting.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following is the All India Service actually created by using the procedure laid down in Article 312?
- (a)Indian Administrative Service
- (b)Indian Police Service
- (c)Indian Forest Service
- (d)Indian Foreign Service
Answer(c) Indian Forest Service — constituted in 1966. The IAS and IPS are deemed under Article 312(2) to have been created under the Article, and the Indian Foreign Service is a Central Service, not an All India Service.