State Obligation to Ensure Compliance with Parliamentary Laws
Official heading: “Obligation of States and the Union”
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part XI, Article 256, printed pages 151–152
- Last human source-link check
- Not yet checked
- Last human legal review
- Not yet reviewed
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1. In One Sentence
Obligates every State to exercise executive power to ensure compliance with parliamentary laws, empowering the Union to issue executive directions to that effect.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
Article 256 establishes a foundational federal duty: every State must exercise its executive power in such a manner as to ensure compliance with laws enacted by Parliament and any existing laws applicable to that State.
To enforce this constitutional compliance, the executive power of the Union extends to issuing necessary directions to a State government.
This ensures that national statutes passed by Parliament are effectively enforced throughout the country by the respective State administrative machineries.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
Parliament passes a nationwide census, national highway protection, or environmental protection law that requires active enforcement by local state police and magistrates.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 256 anchors administrative federalism and national legal consistency.
- Mandatory state duty: States must exercise executive power to uphold parliamentary statutes.
- Union directive authority: Empowers the Union executive to issue binding operational directions.
- Constitutional consequence: Non-compliance can be treated as failure of constitutional machinery.
5. Operative Constitutional Text
6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations
Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.
- •Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part XI, Article 256, printed pages 151–152 • Human source-link check pending
Primary PDF accessed and transcribed with AI assistance on 14 October 2026. Formatting and amendment annotation markers are omitted; operative wording is retained. This is not human legal review. Later amendments and commencement notifications have not been comprehensively checked.