Distribution of Executive Powers Between Centre and States

Executive powers distribution between the Union and the states in India rests on the same foundation as the distribution of legislative powers: the Seventh Schedule. Rather than creating a separate scheme for who administers what, the Constitution largely lets executive authority follow legislative competence, while layering on special mechanisms — emergency suspension, protected amendment procedures, and fiscal-sharing arrangements — that determine how firmly that division holds in practice.

The Seventh Schedule as the Starting Point

Article 246 and the Seventh Schedule divide subjects among three lists: the Union List, on which Parliament alone can legislate; the State List, reserved for state legislatures; and the Concurrent List, on which both can legislate. At present these lists contain 98 subjects in the Union List, 59 in the State List, and 52 in the Concurrent List. Whatever is not enumerated in any of the three lists — the residuary subjects — falls to the Union under Article 248. This threefold division is the base on which administrative responsibility, and therefore executive power, is generally organised between the Centre and the states.

The Nature of the Union Executive

In India's parliamentary system, the President is the formal head of government, exercising wide executive, legislative, judicial and emergency powers, but only on the advice of the Council of Ministers. The real executive is the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, who hold office only so long as they command majority support in the Lok Sabha. This structure matters for Centre-state relations because it is this politically accountable executive — not the President in a personal capacity — that in practice exercises the Union's administrative authority over subjects falling within its competence.

Judicial Review as a Check on the Division

The distribution of powers between the Centre and the states is not self-enforcing; it is backed by judicial review. The Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional if the enacting legislature lacked competence over the subject under the constitutional distribution of powers, or if the law violates fundamental rights or other mandatory provisions of the Constitution. This is a power of judicial review, not judicial supremacy — courts test legislative and executive action against the Constitution's own allocation of authority rather than substituting their own policy judgment.

The Fiscal Dimension of the Division

Executive and administrative responsibility is closely tied to financial arrangements. Under Article 270, taxes in the Union List (other than those specifically excluded, such as under Articles 268, 269 and 269A) are shared between the Union and the states in a prescribed percentage, based on the recommendations of the Finance Commission. At the local level, Article 243-I requires the Governor of a state to constitute a State Finance Commission every five years to review the financial position of panchayats and recommend how taxes, duties and grants should be distributed between the state and its panchayats — extending the logic of fiscal distribution one tier further down.

Protecting the Distribution Through the Amendment Procedure

The Constitution treats the basic distribution of powers as too important to be altered by a simple parliamentary majority. Under Article 368(2), amendments that affect matters such as the manner of the President's election, the distribution of executive and legislative powers between the Union and the states, the Supreme Court and High Courts, the Seventh Schedule lists, or the representation of states in Parliament — besides Article 368 itself — require ratification by the legislatures of not less than half the states, in addition to the special majority in Parliament, before the President can give assent. This procedure is still more liberal than the US Constitution's requirement of ratification by three-fourths of the states.

Suspension of the Distribution During Emergency

The one setting in which the normal distribution of powers gives way entirely is a national emergency. Under the emergency provisions, the federal distribution of powers is effectively suspended and authority is concentrated in the Union government, which can also curtail or restrict Fundamental Rights for the duration. India experienced this in practice for 21 months, from June 1975 to January 1977, when a national emergency was in force.

The Constituent Assembly's View: Federal Despite a Strong Centre

The choice to vest residuary power in the Centre, rather than the states, was debated at the drafting stage. Speaking in the Constituent Assembly on 25 November 1949, T.T. Krishnamachari argued that vesting residuary power in the Centre does not by itself make the Constitution unitary; drawing on German federal theory, he noted that a federation exists so long as the constituent states are not completely circumscribed by the federal authority, and that India's Constitution gave the units substantial powers in both the legislative and the executive spheres. Jawaharlal Nehru, introducing the Union Constitution Committee's report, had similarly framed the design as covering the federal executive, Parliament, the judiciary, the distribution of legislative powers, administrative relations, and finance as connected parts of a single scheme rather than a simple transfer of power to the Centre.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims: Know the composition of the Seventh Schedule (98 Union, 59 State, 52 Concurrent subjects), the residuary power under Article 248, the tax-sharing mechanism under Article 270, and the special amendment procedure under Article 368(2) for provisions touching the Centre-state distribution.

Mains: Useful for GS2 answers on the nature of Indian federalism, the balance between a strong Centre and state autonomy, and how mechanisms such as judicial review, protected amendment procedures, and emergency provisions interact to both entrench and, in extraordinary circumstances, suspend the distribution of powers.

FAQ

Q1. What is the basic scheme for distributing powers between the Centre and the states? The Seventh Schedule under Article 246 divides subjects into a Union List, a State List and a Concurrent List; residuary subjects not covered by any list fall to the Union under Article 248.

Q2. Who actually exercises the Union's executive power in practice? Formally the President, but only on the advice of the Council of Ministers; in practice the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, who must retain majority support in the Lok Sabha, are the real executive.

Q3. How does the Constitution protect the Centre-state distribution of powers from easy amendment? Amendments affecting the distribution of executive and legislative powers, the Seventh Schedule lists, the judiciary, and related matters require ratification by not less than half the state legislatures under Article 368(2), in addition to Parliament's special majority.

Q4. What happens to the distribution of powers during a national emergency? It is effectively suspended, with authority concentrated in the Union government; India experienced this for 21 months between June 1975 and January 1977.

Q5. Did the Constituent Assembly consider India's Constitution unitary because residuary power went to the Centre? No. T.T. Krishnamachari argued in the Assembly that vesting residuary power in the Centre does not make a constitution unitary, since India's Constitution gave the states substantial legislative and executive powers of their own.

Quick Revision

Seventh Schedule (Article 246): Union List (98), State List (59), Concurrent List (52); residuary power to Union (Article 248).
Union's real executive is the PM and Council of Ministers, accountable to the Lok Sabha; President acts on their advice.
Judicial review (not judicial supremacy) lets courts strike down laws beyond a legislature's constitutional competence.
Article 270: sharing of Union List tax proceeds with states per Finance Commission; Article 243-I: State Finance Commission for panchayats every five years.
Article 368(2): distribution of powers can only be amended with ratification by half the state legislatures.
National Emergency suspends the federal distribution of powers; used for 21 months, June 1975-January 1977.
T.T. Krishnamachari (25 Nov 1949): Central residuary power does not make the Constitution unitary.

Sources

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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