"Doctrine of Residuary Powers" in the Constitution of India is taken from:

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 3:

The correct option is 3: **Constitution of the Canada**.

Students, the question asks about the origin of the "Doctrine of Residuary Powers" in the Indian Constitution. The concept of Residuary Powers refers to the authority to legislate on any subject matter that is not specifically enumerated in the Union List, State List, or Concurrent List of the Seventh Schedule. In India, Article 248 grants this exclusive power to the Union Parliament. This feature is a deliberate borrowing from the constitutional framework of Canada. The framers of the Indian Constitution chose the Canadian model's federal structure, known for its strong central government, over the American or Australian models. The Canadian Constitution vests the Residuary Powers in the Federal Parliament, just as India vests them in the Union Parliament. This was instrumental in ensuring that the Union government could handle unforeseen legislative matters and maintain the country's unity, especially in the face of new technologies or subjects not present at the time of constitution drafting, such as "Cyber Laws" (as shown in question 104 in the document data). Therefore, the Canadian precedent was crucial in shaping India's unitary bias within a federal system.

The incorrect option is 1:

**Constitution of the Ireland** is incorrect. While the Indian Constitution borrowed several important features from the Irish Constitution, these features primarily relate to the framework for state policy and selection methods, not the distribution of legislative powers. Specifically, India borrowed the **Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP)**, the method of election of the President, and the nomination of members to the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) from the Irish Constitution. The Irish system, which is not a highly centralized federation like Canada's, does not serve as the model for vesting residuary legislative authority exclusively with the national government in the manner adopted by India.

The incorrect option is 2:

**Constitution of the United States of America** is incorrect. The US model of federalism follows a fundamentally different principle regarding residuary powers, which is contrary to the Indian system. The Tenth Amendment of the US Constitution explicitly grants the residuary powers (powers not delegated to the federal government nor prohibited to the States) to the respective States or the people. This is a deliberate design to ensure strong states' rights. Since the Indian Constitution vests these powers in the Centre (Union Parliament), it clearly departs from the American system of federalism, making it an incorrect source for India's "Doctrine of Residuary Powers."

The incorrect option is 4:

**Constitution of the Britain** is incorrect. Britain operates under a unitary, rather than a federal, system of government, where all powers are historically concentrated in the Parliament (Westminster). As a result, the concept of "residuary powers" as a distinct legal category—which is only necessary in a federal system with divided legislative lists—is not applicable in the British constitutional tradition. Therefore, Britain could not have served as the source for the distribution of these specific, unenumerated powers between a Union and State government. The British influence is seen in other aspects, like the Parliamentary system and the rule of law.