Centre-State relations (legislative, administrative, financial)

The legislative architecture: Articles 245-255

Part XI, Chapter I of the Constitution (Articles 245-255) governs the distribution of legislative power. Article 245 demarcates territorial jurisdiction: Parliament legislates for the whole or any part of India, a State legislature for its territory. Parliament alone possesses extra-territorial operation of laws, upheld in GVK Industries v. ITO (2011).

Article 246 read with the Seventh Schedule distributes subject-matter across three lists. The Union List (originally 97 entries; e.g., defence, foreign affairs, atomic energy, currency) is Parliament's exclusive domain. The State List (originally 66 entries; police, public health, agriculture, public order) belongs to State legislatures. The Concurrent List (originally 47 entries; criminal law, marriage, education, forests) is open to both. The 42nd Amendment (1976) shifted education, forests, weights and measures, protection of wild animals and birds, and administration of justice from State to Concurrent List.

Doctrines of interpretation

Courts deploy settled doctrines. The doctrine of pith and substance (State of Bombay v. F.N. Balsara, 1951) sustains a law touching another list incidentally if its true nature falls within the enacting legislature's competence. The doctrine of colourable legislation (K.C. Gajapati Narayan Deo v. State of Orissa, 1953) voids laws that do indirectly what the legislature cannot do directly. The doctrine of repugnancy under Article 254 resolves Concurrent List conflicts in favour of central law, save where the State law has received Presidential assent under Article 254(2).

Parliament legislating on State subjects

Five constitutional gateways let Parliament enter the State List:

1. Article 249 — Rajya Sabha resolution by two-thirds majority declaring a State subject of national importance (valid one year, renewable).
2. Article 250 — during a National Emergency under Article 352.
3. Article 252 — when two or more States pass enabling resolutions requesting Parliament to legislate (e.g., the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and various transplantation and water laws).
4. Article 253 — to implement international treaties, agreements, or decisions of international bodies; this underpinned environmental legislation following the 1972 Stockholm Conference.
5. Article 356 — when a State is under President's Rule.

The residuary power under Article 248 read with Entry 97 of the Union List vests in Parliament—unlike the United States, where residuary power rests with the states, reflecting the strong-centre design the Constituent Assembly chose after Partition. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar described the Indian polity as 'federal in form but unitary in spirit' under stress. Retain the exact article numbers and the five gateways; Prelims routinely tests which article corresponds to treaty implementation versus Rajya Sabha resolution.

Administrative relations: Articles 256-263

Article 256 obliges States to ensure compliance with parliamentary laws; Article 257 subordinates State executive power so as not to impede Union executive power, and empowers the Centre to give directions on construction and maintenance of communications of national or military importance and protection of railways. Failure to comply can trigger Article 365—a State's failure to give effect to Union directions is a ground for President's Rule.

The Centre may entrust functions to States (Article 258A lets States entrust functions to the Union, inserted by the 7th Amendment, 1956). All-India Services (Article 312)—the IAS, IPS, and Indian Forest Service—serve both tiers but are controlled centrally, a deliberate integrating device. Article 263 authorises the President to establish an Inter-State Council; one was finally constituted in 1990 on the Sarkaria Commission's recommendation. Water disputes fall under Article 262, operationalised through the Inter-State River Water Disputes Act, 1956, which ousts Supreme Court jurisdiction in favour of tribunals (e.g., the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, 1990).

Financial relations: Articles 268-293

Taxation follows strict separation: only an entry-listed authority may levy. The 101st Amendment (2016) introduced the Goods and Services Tax, inserting Article 246A (concurrent taxing power over GST), Article 269A (levy on inter-State supply, apportioned), and Article 279A (the GST Council, a constitutional body where the Centre holds one-third weightage and States two-thirds, decisions needing a three-fourths majority). In Union of India v. Mohit Minerals (2022) the Supreme Court held GST Council recommendations are persuasive, not binding, reaffirming cooperative federalism.

The Finance Commission (Article 280), constituted every five years, recommends the vertical and horizontal devolution of taxes. The 15th Finance Commission (chaired by N.K. Singh) recommended 41% devolution of the divisible pool to States for 2021-26. Article 275 provides statutory grants-in-aid; Article 282 permits discretionary grants—the constitutional basis for centrally sponsored schemes and NITI Aayog transfers, criticised for bypassing the Finance Commission.

Why this matters for the exam

Centre-State relations is the spine of GS-2 ('Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure') and a Prelims staple. PYQs include the 2021 Prelims question on the Inter-State Council and recurring questions on Finance Commission functions and GST Council composition. Mains rewards candidates who deploy commission reports—Sarkaria (1988), Punchhi (2010), and the R.S. Sarkaria recommendation on Article 356—alongside S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994), which made President's Rule justiciable and federalism a basic-structure feature. Marry article numbers to live debates: cess-and-surcharge erosion of the divisible pool, and Governor-State friction over bill assent under Article 200.