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Constitution of India · Part XI: Relations Between the Union and the States · Distribution of Legislative Powers

Article 252: Power of Parliament to legislate for two or more States by consent and adoption of such legislation by any other State

In plain words

If the Legislatures of two or more States pass resolutions asking Parliament to regulate a matter it otherwise cannot legislate on for them, Parliament can pass an Act on it. The Act applies to those States and any other State that later adopts it by resolution.

  • Such an Act can be amended or repealed only by Parliament in the same way, not by the State Legislature.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

(1) If it appears to the Legislatures of two or more States to be desirable that any of the matters with respect to which Parliament has no power to make laws for the States except as provided in articles 249 and 250 should be regulated in such States by Parliament by law, and if resolutions to that effect are passed by all the Houses of the Legislatures of those States, it shall be lawful for Parliament to pass an act for regulating that matter accordingly, and any Act so passed shall apply to such States and to any other State by which it is adopted afterwards by resolution passed in that behalf by the House or, where there are two Houses, by each of the Houses of the Legislature of that State.

(2) Any Act so passed by Parliament may be amended or repealed by an Act of Parliament passed or adopted in like manner but shall not, as respects any State to which it applies, be amended or repealed by an Act of the Legislature of that State.

Source: India Code (Legislative Department), the official text of the Constitution of India. As amended up to the Constitution (One Hundred and Sixth Amendment) Act, 2023. Text as on 10 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this article

Article 252 lets two or more States ask Parliament to legislate on a State List matter for them. If their Legislatures pass resolutions, Parliament may make the law, which applies to those States and to any other State that later adopts it by resolution.

Key points

  • All Houses of each requesting State's Legislature must pass the resolution.
  • Other States can adopt the Act later by their own resolution.
  • Once adopted, the subject is effectively surrendered: only Parliament can amend or repeal the Act for those States (clause 2), not the State Legislature.
  • Well-known examples are the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1976.

Why States use it

It allows uniform law on a subject that several States want regulated alike, such as inter-State pollution, without amending the Constitution. The cost is that the adopting State loses the power to change the law on its own; it can only ask Parliament to do so.

Common mistakes

  • Assuming an adopting State can amend the Act itself; only Parliament can.

Read with: Article 249 Constitution, Article 246 Constitution

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 252