Article 246 is a fundamental provision of the Indian Constitution that defines the distribution of legislative powers between the Union Parliament and the State Legislatures. This concept is housed under Part XI of the Constitution, which deals with the relations between the Union and the States. The origin of this three-list structure can be traced back to the Government of India Act, 1935, and it was retained in the Constitution of 1950 to establish a quasi-federal structure and solve the problem of overlapping legislative authority.
The Article works by referencing the Seventh Schedule, which contains three lists of subjects. Clause (1) of Article 246 grants Parliament the exclusive power to make laws on subjects in List I (Union List), which includes matters of national importance like Defence and Foreign Affairs. Clause (3) grants State Legislatures the exclusive power to make laws on subjects in List II (State List), such as Police and Public Health. Clause (2) provides that both Parliament and State Legislatures can make laws on subjects in List III (Concurrent List), like Criminal Law and Education. In case of a conflict on a Concurrent List subject, the law made by Parliament generally prevails, as specified in Article 254.
This Article connects to Article 248, which vests the residuary powers (subjects not in any list) exclusively in Parliament, and to other provisions like Articles 249-252, which allow Parliament to legislate on State List subjects under special circumstances. The most significant recent change is the insertion of Article 246A by the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, which grants both Parliament and the State Legislatures the power to make laws with respect to the Goods and Services Tax (GST). This amendment created a special concurrent power for GST, while the core mechanism of the three lists under Article 246 for other subjects remains the same.