RAS question
Article 312 provides for the creation of All India Services by:
Correct answer: (A) Rajya Sabha by a two-thirds majority resolution.
Article 312 allows Parliament to create one or more All India Services only after the Rajya Sabha passes a resolution supported by at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.
Explanation
Article 312 gives the trigger to the Council of States, not to the executive or the UPSC. Once the Rajya Sabha declares, through a resolution backed by not less than two-thirds of the members present and voting, that creating an All India Service is necessary or expedient in the national interest, Parliament may make a law for such a service. The service must be common to the Union and the States, and Parliament may also regulate recruitment and service conditions. The Constitution itself treats the Indian Administrative Service and Indian Police Service as services created under this article; the Indian Forest Service also belongs to the All India Services framework. The key point is the two-step design: Rajya Sabha resolution first, Parliament's law afterwards.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) UPSC may conduct recruitment examinations, but Article 312 assigns the constitutional trigger to the Rajya Sabha and the law-making role to Parliament.
- (C) The Lok Sabha acting by a simple majority is not the Article 312 mechanism; the required resolution is of the Rajya Sabha and needs a two-thirds majority of members present and voting.
- (D) The President is not given the power to create All India Services under Article 312; creation follows a Rajya Sabha resolution and a law made by Parliament.
Concept
This tests the constitutional design of All India Services and the special federal role of the Rajya Sabha. It recurs in RAS because it links Union-State administration, parliamentary procedure and higher civil services.