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Difficulty: MediumConstitutional Development, Framing, and Preamble

The Government of India Act of 1935 established a three-fold distribution of legislative powers between the Centre and the units through Federal, Provincial, and Concurrent Lists. Under this statutory arrangement, in whom were the residuary powers of legislation explicitly vested?

  1. Governor-General of IndiaAnswer
  2. B
    Federal Legislature
  3. C
    Provincial Legislatures
  4. D
    Secretary of State for India

Answer

Governor-General of India
The Government of India Act of 1935 introduced a three-fold enumeration of legislative subjects into Federal, Provincial, and Concurrent Lists. Unlike the modern Indian Constitution, which grants residuary powers to the Union Parliament (Article 248), Section 104 of the 1935 Act vested the Governor-General of India with the personal discretion to assign any unenumerated subject to either the central or provincial legislatures.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the division of legislative powers under the Government of India Act of 1935.
The Act created three detailed legislative lists: Federal List, Provincial List, and Concurrent List.
To distribute legislative jurisdiction between the central government and the provinces.
2
Identify the statutory authority holding residuary legislative powers under the 1935 Act.
Residuary powers were neither automatically given to the central legislature nor to the provincial legislatures.
Section 104 vested the Governor-General with discretionary authority to empower either legislature to enact laws on subjects not enumerated in any list.

Key Concept

Allocation of Residuary Legislative Powers under the Government of India Act of 1935
Estimated Time:1m 0s
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Topics

Constitutional Development, Framing, and Preamble

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