UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Mamata-ED dispute not a Centre-State issue, says SC
Q1. Under the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002, the expression 'proceeds of crime' is most accurately defined as:
- A. Any property derived or obtained, directly or indirectly, by a person as a result of criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence
- B. Any property involved in a contravention of the foreign-exchange provisions of FEMA, 1999
- C. Cash and bank deposits seized during a search, irrespective of their source of acquisition
- D. Any income in respect of which tax has been evaded under the Income-tax Act
Q2. The Directorate of Enforcement (ED), which administers the Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002, functions under which one of the following?
- A. The Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance
- B. The Ministry of Home Affairs
- C. The Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel
- D. The Reserve Bank of India
Q3. The doctrine that the Constitution has a 'basic structure' which cannot be amended — later relied upon to hold that federalism is part of that basic structure — was first propounded by the Supreme Court in which one of the following cases?
- A. Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973)
- B. S.R. Bommai v. Union of India (1994)
- C. State of West Bengal v. Union of India (1963)
- D. Golak Nath v. State of Punjab (1967)
Q4. Which of the following are correctly identified as features of the Indian constitutional scheme of Centre-State relations?
- India is described in Article 1 as a 'Union of States'.
- Federalism has been held by the Supreme Court to be part of the basic structure of the Constitution.
- Single citizenship is one of the unitary features of the Indian Constitution.
- The Constitution expressly confers on the States a right to secede from the Union.
- A. 1, 2 and 3
- B. 2 and 3 only
- C. 1 and 4
- D. 1, 2, 3 and 4
Q5. In the incident of 8 January 2026 that gave rise to the dispute, the alleged obstruction of the ED search related to how many premises in Kolkata connected to the probe?
- A. One
- B. Two
- C. Four
- D. Six
Q6. The ED search of 8 January 2026 that triggered the dispute before the Supreme Court was primarily linked to an investigation into which one of the following?
- A. A coal smuggling and money-laundering case
- B. A cattle smuggling case
- C. A school teacher recruitment scam
- D. The Saradha chit-fund case
Q7. Regarding the Supreme Court proceedings in the ED–West Bengal matter, which of the following are correctly identified?
- Constitutional provision under which the ED approached the Supreme Court — Article 32.
- Relief sought by the ED — a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
- Agency that had actually conducted the original search — the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
- Objection raised by the West Bengal government — that the petition was in substance a Centre-State dispute.
- A. 1, 2 and 3
- B. 1, 2 and 4
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 1 and 4 only
Q8. The West Bengal government argued that the ED's petition was not maintainable because it was, in substance, a Centre-State dispute. Such disputes fall within the Supreme Court's original jurisdiction under which Article — the framing that the Bench ultimately rejected?
- A. Article 131
- B. Article 32
- C. Article 143
- D. Article 137
Q9. With reference to the immunity available to constitutional office-holders during their term, which one of the following statements is correct?
- A. Article 361 grants the President and Governors personal immunity from criminal proceedings and arrest during their term of office, but a Chief Minister enjoys no such personal immunity
- B. A Chief Minister is wholly immune from every criminal investigation for as long as he or she remains in office
- C. Article 361 confers on every Union and State Minister immunity from arrest in criminal cases
- D. No constitutional functionary in India enjoys any immunity whatsoever from legal proceedings