Legislation by consent of states

Also called: Article 252 · Topic: Federalism and Centre-State Relations · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Legislation by consent of states (Article 252) is the route by which Parliament makes a law on a State List subject (a subject on which normally only state legislatures can make laws) because the legislatures of two or more states have passed resolutions asking it to.

It matters because states use it to get one common law on issues that cross state borders, such as water, wildlife and health. The cost is that once a state hands over a subject, it cannot take it back alone.

Explanation

How it works: the steps

1. The states ask. The legislatures of two or more states each pass a resolution. The resolution says that Parliament should make laws on a named State List subject. Where a state has two Houses, both Houses must pass it.
2. Parliament makes the law. Parliament can then pass an Act on that subject.
3. The law applies only where it was asked for. At first it covers only the states that passed resolutions.
4. Other states can join later. Any other state can adopt the Act by passing its own resolution. From then on, the Act applies to that state too.

Who can change the law

• Only Parliament can amend or repeal it. Any change must be made in the same way the law was first made.
• The state legislature cannot change it, even for its own territory.
• The state has, in effect, given up that subject.
• This is why the route is often called a one-way door.

Conditions and limits

• One state is not enough. The trigger needs two or more states. A single state cannot ask Parliament to make a law for it under Art. 252.
• Only State List subjects. The route lets Parliament into List II of the Seventh Schedule (the Schedule that splits law-making subjects into the Union, State and Concurrent Lists).
• No time limit. The law is permanent. It does not lapse, unlike laws made under Arts. 249 and 250.
• No role for the Rajya Sabha resolution or an emergency. The trigger comes only from the state legislatures themselves.
• Not binding on states that did not consent. A state that never passes a resolution stays free to make its own law on that subject.

In the Constitution and practice

• Where it sits: Article 252, in Part XI of the Constitution, which covers relations between the Union and the states. It is one of four routes by which Parliament can make laws on the State List: Arts. 249, 250, 252 and 253. Parliament can also make laws for a state that is under President's rule (Art. 357).
• Why it exists: NCERT (Class 11) describes India as a "federalism with a strong central government". Art. 252 is the most voluntary of these routes, because the states themselves invite the Centre in.
• Who uses it: state legislatures start the process and Parliament makes the law.
• Main areas of use: water, wildlife and health. These are mostly State List subjects, but they need one rule across the country.
• Key laws made under Art. 252:

Year	Act
1955	Prize Competitions Act
1972	Wild Life (Protection) Act
1974	Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act
1976	Urban Land (Ceiling) Act
1994	Transplantation of Human Organs Act
2010	Clinical Establishments Act

• In practice: each of these Acts started with a few states and spread as more states adopted it by resolution. On those subjects, the adopting states now depend on Parliament for any change.

Don't confuse with

• Art. 249 (national interest): the trigger is a Rajya Sabha resolution passed by two-thirds of members present and voting [2]. The resolution lasts 1 year and can be renewed, and the law lapses 6 months after it ends. Art. 252 needs resolutions from state legislatures and is permanent.
• Art. 250 (national emergency): it works automatically during a national emergency (Art. 352), and the law lapses 6 months after the emergency ends. Art. 252 needs state consent and never lapses.
• Art. 253 (international agreements): Parliament acts on its own, with no state consent, to carry out a treaty. Examples are the Air Act 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, made after the Stockholm Conference of 1972. Do not mix these up with the Water Act 1974, which was made under Art. 252.
• Art. 254 (repugnancy): this is about a clash between a Union law and a state law on a Concurrent List subject. There the Union law wins, and the state law is void only to the extent of the clash [1]. Art. 252 is about the State List, where there is no shared power in the first place.

Prelims Hooks

• Art. 252 is started by resolutions of two or more state legislatures. The Rajya Sabha resolution belongs to Art. 249, not Art. 252. This is a common trap.
• Once a law is made under Art. 252, only Parliament can amend or repeal it. The state legislature cannot, even for its own territory.
• The law applies only to the consenting states. Other states can come under it later by adopting it through a resolution.
• Art. 252 laws: Wild Life (Protection) Act 1972, Water Act 1974, Urban Land (Ceiling) Act 1976, Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994 and Clinical Establishments Act 2010.
• Art. 253 laws, not Art. 252: the Air Act 1981 and the Environment (Protection) Act 1986, both made after Stockholm 1972.
• Duration: a law under Art. 252 is permanent. Laws under Arts. 249 and 250 lapse 6 months after their trigger ends.

Mains Points

• A cooperative tool:
• Art. 252 fits "holding-together" federalism: the Centre enters the State List only when the states invite it.
• It gives one common rule on problems that cross state borders, such as river pollution, wildlife trade and organ transplants. No single state could handle these alone.

• This matches the cooperative federalism idea behind NITI Aayog (2015).

• A one-way door:

• Once a state hands over a subject, it cannot amend, repeal or leave the law alone.
• Later state governments stay bound by a choice made by an earlier legislature, even when local needs change.

• Compare Art. 249, where the trigger lapses over time, and Art. 254(2), where states can adjust central Concurrent List laws with presidential assent.

• Reform direction:

• Sarkaria (1988) and Punchhi (2010) both called on the Union to consult states before making laws that affect them, through the Inter-State Council (Art. 263) [3].
• The same idea could apply when Parliament amends an Art. 252 law. States that gave up the subject would have a say, through the Council, before it changes a law that they themselves can no longer change.

Related concepts

• Parliamentary legislation on the State List in the national interest
• Parliament's power to legislate during a national emergency
• Legislation to implement international agreements
• Doctrine of repugnancy

Read more

• Parliament's reach into the State List and the rule of repugnancy