Financial Agreements with Part B States (Omitted)
Official heading: “Agreement with States in Part B of the First Schedule with regard to certain financial matters”
Article 278 originally authorized the Government of India to enter into ten-year financial agreements with Part B States (former princely states and unions) regarding the levy, collection, and sharing of taxes and transitional financial assistance. Following the reorganization of States and the elimination of the distinction between Part A and Part B States under the Seventh Amendment in 1956, Article 278 was formally omitted.
- Source edition
- The Constitution of India (as on 1 May 2026)
- Source locator
- Part XII, Article 278, printed page 164
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1. In One Sentence
Article 278 formerly authorized transitional financial agreements with Part B princely states, and was omitted in 1956 upon state reorganization.
2. What It Means in Everyday Language
In 1950, integrating the finances of former princely states (Part B States like Mysore, Rajasthan, and Patiala) with the rest of India was a delicate transitional operation.
Article 278 empowered the Government of India to enter into special bilateral financial agreements with Part B States for up to ten years to manage tax integration, subsidies, and revenue sharing.
Once linguistic state reorganization took effect under the Seventh Amendment in 1956 and the distinction between Part A and Part B States was abolished, Article 278 became obsolete and was formally omitted from the Constitution.
3. Practical Illustrative Example
A researcher reviews the financial integration documents of the Rajasthan or Travancore-Cochin unions between 1950 and 1956.
4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions
Article 278 was a transitional financial provision for princely integration.
- Transitional agreements: Covered federal-princely financial integration between 1950 and 1956.
- Omitted in 1956: Deleted by the Seventh Amendment.
- Fiscal harmonization: Unified all Indian States under standard constitutional financial provisions.
5. Historical constitutional wording — not operative
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 XII, Article 278, printed page 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.