VoxJuris
Home › Acts › Constitution › Part XII › Article 274

Constitution of India · Part XII: Finance, Property, Contracts and Suits · Distribution of Revenues between the Union and the States

Article 274: Prior recommendation of President required to Bills affecting taxation in which States are interested

In plain words

A Bill or amendment that imposes or changes a tax or duty in which States are interested, changes the meaning of "agricultural income" for income-tax laws, affects the principles for distributing money to States, or imposes a Union surcharge, can be introduced in Parliament only on the President's recommendation.

  • A tax in which States are interested is one whose proceeds are wholly or partly assigned to a State, or by reference to which sums are paid to a State from the Consolidated Fund of India.

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.

Official text

(1) No Bill or amendment which imposes or varies any tax or duty in which States are interested, or which varies the meaning of the expression “agricultural income” as defined for the purposes of the enactments relating to Indian income-tax, or which affects the principles on which under any of the foregoing provisions of this Chapter moneys are or may be distributable to States, or which imposes any such surcharge for the purposes of the Union as is mentioned in the foregoing provisions of this Chapter, shall be introduced or moved in either House of Parliament except on the recommendation of the President.

(2) In this article, the expression “tax or duty in which States are interested” means—

(a) a tax or duty the whole or part of the net proceeds whereof are assigned to any State; or

(b) a tax or duty by reference to the net proceeds whereof sums are for the time being payable out of the Consolidated Fund of India to any 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.

Supreme Court judgments citing the article 274