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THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA
395 Articles, organised into 25 Parts and 12 Schedules, make up the Constitution of India

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Part XI

Article 248

Residuary powers of legislation

(1) Subject to article 246A, Parliament] has exclusive power to make any law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List.

(2) Such power shall include the power of making any law imposing a tax not mentioned in either of those Lists.

VERSION 1

Article 223, Draft Constitution 1948

(1) Parliament has exclusive power to make any law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List.

(2) Such power shall include the power of making any law imposing a tax not mentioned in either of those Lists.

VERSION 2

Article 248, Constitution of India, 1950

(1) Parliament has exclusive power to make any law with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List.

⁠(2) Such power shall include the power of making any law imposing a tax not mentioned in either of those Lists.

SUMMARY

Draft Article 223 (Article 248, Constitution of India 1950) was debated on 13 June 1949. It gave the Union Parliament residuary powers to make laws on subjects that were not mentioned in the State and Concurrent lists. There was no substantive debate on this Draft Article and it was adopted without amendment.

Subsequently, the Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act, 2016 introduced an amendment to Article 248 on 16 September 2016. The amendment subjected Parliament’s power under Article 248 to the provisions of Article 246A. Article 246A dealt with the power to make laws in relation to goods and services tax (GST).