Question

The Constitution of India vents the residuary powers in _____________.
(A) The States
(B) The Union Government
(C) The Union and State Governments jointly
(D) None of the above

Answer 1

Hint: In a federal system, it is essential that the Centre and the States remain in harmony and coordination for the effective functioning of the federal system. Hence, to regulate the various dimensions of the relations between the Centre and the States, the Constitution contains elaborate provisions which are mentioned in part XI.

Complete step-by-step solution:
There are three dimensions of the Centre-State relationship. These include Legislative relations, financial relations, and Administrative relations. In part XI of the Indian Constitution Articles 245 to 255 deal with the legislative relations between the Centre and the States. The legislative relations between the Centre and the States have four aspects, these are Distribution of legislative subjects; Centre’s control over state legislation; Territorial extent of Central and state legislation; and Parliamentary legislation in the state field.
The Constitution provides for a three-fold division of legislative subjects in the seventh schedule between the Centre and the States:
List I is the Union List; it has 100 subjects which include items relating to defence, banking, currency, atomic energy, foreign affairs, audit, etc. The Parliament has been given the exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters mentioned in the Union list.
List II is the State List; it has 61 subjects which include items relating to agriculture, public order, police, public health and sanitation, local government, prisons, markets, fisheries, etc. The State legislature has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any of the matters mentioned in the State list “in normal circumstances”.
List III is the Concurrent List; it has 52 subjects which include items relating to drugs, newspaper, criminal law and procedure, marriage and divorce, population control and family planning, etc. The Parliament and the State legislature, both can make laws with respect to any of the matters mentioned in the Concurrent List.
The power to make laws with respect to residuary subjects is vested with the Parliament. These residuary subjects are the subjects that are not mentioned in any of the three lists. The power to levy residuary taxes is included in the residuary power of legislation.

Thus, option (B) is correct.

Note: In Canada, the residuary powers are vested with the Centre. In this respect, India follows the Canadian precedent.