Question

Under the scheme of distribution of legislative powers in the Constitution of India, a subject which is not enumerated in either the State List or the Concurrent List falls within the residuary field of legislation. Such residuary power is vested in:

• A. The President of India
• B. The State Legislatures
• C. The Parliament
• D. The Supreme Court of India

Hint:

Remember: Article 248 = Residuary Powers = Parliament. While the States have exclusive control over the State List, the Parliament has the "final say" on any subject that falls through the cracks of the three lists!

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Whenever a subject cannot be traced to any entry in the State List or the Concurrent List, the Constitution does not leave it ungoverned, it assigns it to a single named authority through Article 248. Seeing why the other three choices do not fit makes the correct one obvious.

1. Supreme Court of India: Courts decide disputes and interpret statutes, including ruling on whether a law properly belongs to the residuary field, but interpreting law is a different function from making it. The Court has no original law-making power over residuary subjects.
2. President of India: The President's role is largely that of the constitutional executive head, performing functions like assenting to legislation passed by Parliament or promulgating ordinances in specific circumstances. There is no provision handing the President a free-standing power to legislate on unclassified subjects.
3. State Legislatures: A State Legislature's competence is confined strictly to the entries in the State List and, along with Parliament, the Concurrent List. Because residuary subjects fall outside both these lists by definition, the States simply have no hook to legislate on them.
4. Parliament: Article 248 gives Parliament sole authority over any matter not found in the State or Concurrent Lists, plus the power to tax such matters. This is the one clean, complete answer to who legislates when no list covers the subject.

So among all the constitutional authorities, only Parliament holds this residuary legislative power under Article 248.

Answer 2

Residuary power refers to the authority to legislate on a subject that the Seventh Schedule's three lists do not mention at all. Working through each option against the constitutional text shows there is exactly one holder of this power.

1. President of India: Although the President is formally part of Parliament for the purpose of enacting laws, assenting to bills passed by the two Houses, and can issue ordinances when Parliament is not in session, the President does not independently hold a free legislative power over subjects left out of the Union, State, and Concurrent Lists.
2. The Supreme Court of India: The apex court's role is judicial, interpreting the Constitution and statutes, and deciding whether a challenged law is within legislative competence. Judicial review of a law is not the same as the power to enact one, so the Court cannot be the answer.
3. The State Legislatures: These bodies are competent only for subjects placed in the State List, and share the Concurrent List with Parliament. A subject falling outside both lists is, by definition, beyond a State Legislature's reach.
4. The Parliament: Article 248(1) directly states that Parliament has exclusive power to make laws with respect to any matter not enumerated in the Concurrent List or State List, and Article 248(2) adds the power to tax such matters. This provision was designed precisely to prevent any legislative vacuum, and it names Parliament, not the President, the States, or the judiciary, as the holder of that power.

Having eliminated the executive, the states, and the judiciary, the residuary legislative field is left squarely with the Union legislature.

Hence, the correct answer is The Parliament.