RAS question
The Consolidated Fund of India is provided under which Article?
Correct answer: (C) Article 266.
The Consolidated Fund of India is provided under Article 266 of the Constitution of India.
Explanation
Article 266 provides for the Consolidated Fund of India and the Public Account of India. Under Article 266, all revenues received by the Government of India, all loans raised by it, and all moneys received in repayment of loans form one consolidated fund called the Consolidated Fund of India. This is why Article 266, not a taxation or contingency-fund article, is the governing provision. The control rule is equally important: no money out of the Consolidated Fund of India can be appropriated except in accordance with law and in the manner provided by the Constitution. In practice, that links withdrawals to parliamentary approval through appropriation law.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Article 270 is about the distribution of tax proceeds, whereas the creation and contents of the Consolidated Fund are stated in Article 266.
- (B) Article 267 concerns the Contingency Fund, a different constitutional fund from the Consolidated Fund named in Article 266.
- (D) Article 265 lays down that no tax can be levied or collected except by authority of law, but it does not provide for the Consolidated Fund itself.
Concept
This tests the constitutional framework of Union government funds: Consolidated Fund, Public Account, taxation authority, and legislative control over withdrawals. It recurs in RAS because economy questions often overlap with polity provisions on public finance and parliamentary approval.