Administration of Scheduled Areas and Tribal Areas, and formation of an autonomous State comprising certain tribal areas in Assam.
Articles 244 and 244A form Part X of the Constitution of India, titled "The Scheduled and Tribal Areas." Article 244 connects the administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes with the Fifth Schedule, and the administration of specified tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram with the Sixth Schedule. Article 244A separately empowers Parliament to provide by law for an autonomous State within Assam comprising specified tribal areas and to create a Legislature, a Council of Ministers, or both.
What Article 244 does: Article 244 determines which constitutional Schedule governs the administration and control of Scheduled Areas, Scheduled Tribes and specified tribal areas.
Clause (1): The Fifth Schedule applies to the administration and control of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Clause (2): The Sixth Schedule applies to the administration of the tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
Important: The earlier page contained only clause (1) of Article 244. Clause (2), dealing with the Sixth Schedule, has been restored so that the explanation reflects the complete operative structure of Article 244.
The Fifth Schedule provides a constitutional framework for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in the States to which Article 244(1) applies. The Sixth Schedule contains special arrangements for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, including constitutionally recognised autonomous district and regional council structures.
Article 244A was inserted by the Constitution (Twenty-second Amendment) Act, 1969. It is an enabling provision: Parliament may enact a law forming an autonomous State within Assam from all or part of the tribal areas specified in Part I of the table appended to paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule.
Clause (1): Parliament may by law form such an autonomous State and create for it a Legislature, a Council of Ministers, or both. The law may specify their constitution, powers and functions.
Clause (2): Such a law may identify State List or Concurrent List matters on which the autonomous State Legislature may legislate; define the autonomous State's executive power; assign attributable Assam tax proceeds to it; provide for constitutional references to a State to include the autonomous State; and make supplemental, incidental and consequential provisions.
Clause (3): An amendment to such a law concerning the legislative matters under clause (2)(a) or executive power under clause (2)(b) has no effect unless passed in each House of Parliament by at least two-thirds of the members present and voting.
Clause (4): A law made under Article 244A is not treated as a constitutional amendment for the purposes of Article 368 merely because it contains provisions that amend, or have the effect of amending, the Constitution.
For Article 244, "Scheduled Areas" are constitutionally recognised areas administered under the Fifth Schedule. The Fifth Schedule provides, among other matters, for Presidential specification of Scheduled Areas and special constitutional arrangements concerning their administration.
Article 244(2) uses the Sixth Schedule framework for tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. The Sixth Schedule establishes special institutions and powers for administration of the tribal areas described in that Schedule.
The opening non-obstante expression gives Article 244A overriding operation for the specific purpose stated in that Article, allowing Parliament to create the contemplated autonomous State and its institutional framework subject to the terms of Article 244A itself.
No. Article 244A confers legislative power on Parliament to create such an autonomous State by law. The constitutional provision supplies the enabling framework; the creation, composition, powers and functions would depend on the law enacted under it.
The current official text should be checked against the Constitution published by the Legislative Department, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India. The official text confirms both clauses of Article 244 and the four-clause structure of Article 244A.
Official Constitution of India - Legislative Department
This page is an explanatory legal information resource. For authoritative wording, amendments and footnotes, refer to the official constitutional text.