Article 277

Savings for Pre-Constitutional State and Local Taxes

Official heading: “Savings”

Check this article against the official editionAwaiting human legal review

Source edition: The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
Source locator: Part XII, Article 277, printed pages 163–164
Last human source-link check: Not yet checked
Last human legal review: Not yet reviewed

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1. In One Sentence

Permits any pre-constitutional tax, duty, or cess levied by a State or local authority to continue being levied until Parliament provides otherwise by law.

2. What It Means in Everyday Language

When the Constitution came into force on 26 January 1950, several taxes that had historically been collected by provincial or princely governments were transferred to the exclusive Union List in the Seventh Schedule.

If those local taxes had suddenly become invalid overnight, state and municipal administrations would have faced immediate bankruptcy.

Article 277 provided a constitutional grandfather clause: any taxes, duties, cesses, or fees that were being lawfully levied by a State, municipality, or local authority immediately before 1950 continue to be levied and applied to the same purposes, even if the subject now falls in the Union List, until Parliament enacts contrary legislation.

3. Practical Illustrative Example

Everyday Scenario:

A municipal corporation continues to collect a historical octroi, terminal toll, or local duty that technically relates to inter-state goods or railway traffic.

Core takeaway: Under Article 277, the historical local levy remains legally protected and operative until Parliament expressly passes a statute superseding or abolishing it.

Illustrative Notice: Article 277 protects only pre-existing levies; a State cannot alter the nature or character of the tax or expand it to new categories without legislative competence.

4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions

Article 277 ensures financial continuity between colonial/princely governance and the constitutional republic.

Grandfather clause: Protects pre-1950 state and local taxes.
Subject to Union List shift: Applies even if the subject matter was shifted to the exclusive Union List.
Parliamentary override: Operates only until Parliament enacts specific legislation providing otherwise.

5. Operative Constitutional Text

Any taxes, duties, cesses or fees which, immediately before the commencement of this Constitution, were being lawfully levied by the Government of any State or by any municipality or other local authority or body for the purposes of the State, municipality, district or other local area may, notwithstanding that those taxes, duties, cesses or fees are mentioned in the Union List, continue to be levied and to be applied to the same purposes until provision to the contrary is made by Parliament by law.

Transcription for reference; compare with the linked official editionNot yet verified by a human legal reviewer

6. Sources & Historical Assembly Deliberations

Assembly quotations are withheld until wording, dates, and attribution have been checked against the primary record.

Sources & Citation Metadata

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Constitutional TextThe Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)Cited PDF page
Government of India (Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice) • Part XII, Article 277, printed pages 163–164 • 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.

Human legal review is pending; compare the text with the cited editionNon-partisan educational resource