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CS Executive · Jurisprudence, Interpretation and General Laws · Constitution of India

A student argues that India's Constitution is purely federal because it divides powers between the Union and the States. Which feature of the Constitution best shows that this view is incomplete?

Parliament's power to legislate on State List matters in certain circumstances, along with a single integrated judiciary, shows unitary tendencies. A written Constitution, the three Lists and constitutional supremacy are federal features, so they do not show that the pure federal view is incomplete.

  1. AExistence of a written Constitution
  2. BDivision of legislative subjects into three Lists
  3. CPower of Parliament to legislate on State List matters in certain circumstances and single integrated judiciaryCorrect
  4. DSupremacy of the Constitution

Explanation

Written Constitution, three-fold distribution of subjects and constitutional supremacy are features of a federal system. Parliament's power to legislate on State subjects in specified situations and the single integrated judiciary show unitary tendencies, so India is often called quasi-federal. The Lists are a federal feature, hence option B is wrong.

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