Article 300

Legal Liability and Right to Sue the Union and the States

Official heading: “Suits and proceedings”

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 300, printed page 175
Last human source-link check: Not yet checked
Last human legal review: Not yet reviewed

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1. In One Sentence

Provides that the Government of India may sue or be sued as the Union of India, and State Governments as the State, preserving historical liability standards.

2. What It Means in Everyday Language

Article 300 defines the legal personality of Indian governments: the Government of India sues and is sued in the name of the "Union of India", and a State Government in the name of the "State" (e.g., "State of Maharashtra").

It preserves the historic standard of sovereign liability tracing back to Section 65 of the Government of India Act, 1858, and the landmark P. & O. Steam Navigation Co. case (1861).

For decades, courts distinguished between "sovereign functions" (like war, defence, and policing, where the state was historically immune from tort liability) and "non-sovereign commercial functions".

However, in modern constitutional jurisprudence (Kasturi Lal v. State of U.P. (1965) mitigated by Nilabati Behera (1993) and Common Cause (1999)), the Supreme Court has dramatically narrowed sovereign immunity, holding that the state is strictly liable to pay compensation for violations of Fundamental Rights under Articles 32 and 226.

3. Practical Illustrative Example

Everyday Scenario:

A citizen’s property is damaged by the reckless driving of a government postal truck, or an individual suffers custodial violence at a police station.

Core takeaway: Under Article 300, the citizen institutes legal proceedings directly against the "Union of India" or the "State" for damages and tortious compensation.

Illustrative Notice: The archaic defence of "sovereign immunity" cannot be invoked by the state to defeat public law compensation claims for violations of Article 21.

4. Important Limits, Qualifications & Exceptions

Article 300 establishes government legal personality and accountability in courts of law.

Corporate legal personality: Union of India and States are distinct juristic entities capable of suing and being sued.
Statutory succession: Inherited the liability framework of the Dominion of India and British provinces.
Narrowed sovereign immunity: Public law compensation for fundamental rights violations overrides historic tort immunity.

5. Operative Constitutional Text

(1) The Government of India may sue or be sued by the name of the Union of India and the Government of a State may sue or be sued by the name of the State and may, subject to any provisions which may be made by Act of Parliament or of the Legislature of such State enacted by virtue of powers conferred by this Constitution, sue or be sued in relation to their respective affairs in the like cases as the Dominion of India and the corresponding Provinces or the corresponding Indian States might have sued or been sued if this Constitution had not been enacted. (2) If at the commencement of this Constitution— (a) any legal proceedings are pending to which the Dominion of India is a party, the Union of India shall be deemed to be substituted for the Dominion in those proceedings; and (b) any legal proceedings are pending to which a Province or an Indian State is a party, the corresponding State shall be deemed to be substituted for the Province or the Indian State in those proceedings.

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 300, printed page 175 • 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