Schedules to the Constitution — Brief Overview

The body of the Constitution of India runs through twenty-five Parts and over four hundred Articles, but a great deal of its operative detail is pushed into the twelve Schedules at the end. The Schedules are not afterthoughts. They carry the names of the States and Union territories, the salaries of the highest constitutional functionaries, the oaths the President and judges must take, the seat allocation in the Council of States, the regime for Scheduled and tribal areas, the legislative lists that divide power between the Union and the States, the recognised languages, the laws immunised from fundamental-rights challenge, the anti-defection code, and the subject lists that fund and frame Panchayats and Municipalities. To read the Constitution without the Schedules is to read half the document.

This chapter walks through each Schedule in turn — what it contains, the Article or Articles it serves, and the principal amendment that created or rewrote it. It is meant as a survey, a map; each Schedule with serious litigation around it (the Seventh, the Ninth, the Tenth, the Eighth) has its own deep-dive elsewhere in our Constitution of India. What the survey shows is that the Schedules are where the Constitution does its housekeeping: where lists live, where formulas sit, where political bargains are written down so that the body of the document can stay relatively short.

Why the Constitution uses Schedules at all

Three drafting reasons explain the device. First, lists that are long and likely to change — the names of States, the seat allocation in the Council of States, the entries in the Union and State Lists, the recognised languages — sit better in an appendix than in the main text, where they would crowd the Articles. Second, certain matters needed a self-contained code of their own: the Sixth Schedule for tribal areas in the North-East and the Tenth Schedule for anti-defection are essentially mini-statutes, complete with definitions, procedure, and adjudicatory machinery. Third, some Schedules are pure administrative scaffolding — the Second Schedule on salaries, the Third Schedule on oaths — kept out of the body because they are technical and routine, and shifting them between the body and an appendix lets Parliament amend them with relative ease where the Constitution permits.

The Schedules are part of the Constitution. They have the same legal status as the Articles. Amendments to most of them follow Article 368 in the ordinary way; a handful — the First and Fourth Schedules in particular — can be altered by ordinary Parliamentary law made under Articles 2, 3, and 4 without invoking the constituent procedure at all, as the Supreme Court has emphasised. That single feature is why the map of India can change shape without a constitutional amendment.

First Schedule — the names of States and Union territories

The First Schedule lists the States of the Union (Part I) and the Union territories (Part II), together with a short description of each entity's territorial extent. Article 1(2) — the foundational provision examined in our chapter on the Union and its Territory — declares that "the States and the territories thereof shall be as specified in the First Schedule". Article 1(3)(a) likewise routes the Union territories through Part II of the same Schedule.

The First Schedule is the single most amended Schedule in the Constitution, and almost none of those amendments invoked Article 368. The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 — passed in the wake of the States Reorganisation Commission — collapsed the original four-fold classification (Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D territories) into a single class of States and a separate class of Union territories. Subsequent reorganisations — the creation of Maharashtra and Gujarat, the carving out of Haryana from Punjab, the elevation of Himachal Pradesh, the creation of Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, and Goa, the trifurcation of Madhya Pradesh into MP and Chhattisgarh, the bifurcations of Bihar (Jharkhand), Uttar Pradesh (Uttarakhand) and Andhra Pradesh (Telangana), and the 2019 reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union territories — were each effected through ordinary Parliamentary law under Article 3, with the First Schedule amended consequentially under Article 4(1). Article 4(2) makes it explicit that such laws are not amendments of the Constitution for Article 368 purposes.

Second Schedule — emoluments of constitutional functionaries

The Second Schedule fixes (or, more accurately, permits Parliament to fix) the salaries, allowances, and privileges of the high constitutional offices: the President (Article 59), the Vice-President, the Governors of States (Article 158), the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha (Article 97), the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of every State Legislative Assembly and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of every Legislative Council (Article 186), the Judges of the Supreme Court (Article 125) and of the High Courts (Article 221), and the Comptroller and Auditor-General (Article 148). The drafting formula is uniform: each Article says that salaries and allowances will be "such as Parliament may from time to time by law determine and, until provision in that behalf is so made, such… as are specified in the Second Schedule". The Schedule, in other words, is a default that yields to Parliamentary law.

This is one of the financial guarantees that secures judicial and constitutional independence. As discussed in our chapter on the Union Judiciary, a Judge's salary, allowances and pension cannot be varied to his disadvantage after appointment — a charged-on-Consolidated-Fund protection that is anchored in Article 125 read with the Second Schedule.

Third Schedule — forms of oaths and affirmations

The Third Schedule sets out, in fixed forms, every oath or affirmation that constitutional functionaries are required to make on entering office. There is a separate form for the Union Minister, the Union Minister's oath of secrecy, the candidate for Parliament, the sitting Member of Parliament (Article 99), the Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, the Comptroller and Auditor-General (Article 148), the State Minister and his oath of secrecy (Article 164), the candidate for the State Legislature, and the sitting Member of a State Legislature (Article 188).

The President takes a separate oath under Article 60 — phrased differently and not drawn from the Third Schedule — and the same is true of the Vice-President under Article 69. As the Supreme Court has observed, a Presidential candidate need not take the Third-Schedule oath because he is governed by Article 58 read with Article 60, not by Article 84.

Fourth Schedule — seats in the Council of States

The Fourth Schedule allocates the elected seats in the Council of States — the Rajya Sabha — between the States and the Union territories. The total membership cannot exceed 250: 12 nominated members (Article 80(1)(a)) plus a maximum of 238 elected representatives (Article 80(1)(b)). The Article 80(2) cross-reference makes the Fourth Schedule the operative allocation. The original formula, preserved through the Seventh Amendment's reorganisation, was "one seat per million for the first five millions and one seat for every additional two millions or part thereof exceeding one million".

Like the First Schedule, the Fourth Schedule is updated whenever a State is created, divided, or merged. Article 4(1) again makes that updating consequential on the law passed under Articles 2 and 3, and Article 4(2) keeps it outside the Article 368 procedure. Our chapter on the Union Legislature covers the composition of both Houses in detail; the Fourth Schedule is the source of the State-by-State numbers.

Fifth Schedule — administration of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes

The Fifth Schedule is the constitutional code for the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Article 244(1) gives it operative force. The Schedule has four Parts: Part A on general provisions, Part B on the Tribes Advisory Council and the Governor's special role, Part C on Scheduled Areas (including the President's Paragraph-6 power to declare an area to be a Scheduled Area), and Part D on the procedure for amending the Schedule.

The Fifth Schedule equips the Governor with two unusual powers. Under paragraph 5(1), he may direct that any Act of Parliament or State Legislature shall not apply to a Scheduled Area, or shall apply with such adaptations as the Governor specifies. Under paragraph 5(2), he may make Regulations for the peace and good government of a Scheduled Area, including Regulations that prohibit or restrict the transfer of land by or among Scheduled Tribes and that regulate money-lending. Tribal Advisory Councils are required in every State that has Scheduled Areas. Paragraph 7 of the Schedule allows Parliament to amend the Schedule itself by ordinary law — another instance of the Constitution conferring constituent-style power on simple Parliamentary majorities.

Sixth Schedule — tribal areas in the North-East

The Sixth Schedule is a self-contained governance code for the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram, applied through Article 244(2). It is wholly different in design from the Fifth Schedule. Where the Fifth Schedule leaves administration to the State Government acting under the Governor's directions, the Sixth Schedule creates Autonomous District Councils and Autonomous Regional Councils with elected membership and with their own legislative, executive, and judicial powers over a defined catalogue of subjects: land, forests other than reserved forests, water-courses, shifting cultivation, village administration, marriage, inheritance, and social customs. The Councils may set up village courts to try suits and offences between tribals.

Paragraph 21 of the Sixth Schedule allows Parliament to make any change to the Schedule by ordinary law without invoking Article 368, as the Supreme Court flagged in Edwingson Bareh v. State of Assam (1966). The autonomous State of Meghalaya was originally constituted under Article 244A — itself drafted in close coordination with the Sixth Schedule machinery — before being upgraded to a full-fledged State. Our chapter on the special provisions relating to certain States picks up the Article 371-series provisions that complement the Sixth Schedule for the North-East.

Seventh Schedule — the three legislative lists

The Seventh Schedule is the federal heart of the Constitution. It contains three Lists: List I (the Union List), List II (the State List), and List III (the Concurrent List). Article 246 gives them operative force. Parliament has exclusive power to legislate on List I subjects; State Legislatures have exclusive power on List II; both can legislate on List III, with Parliamentary law prevailing in case of repugnancy under Article 254.

The lists were originally numbered 97 (Union), 66 (State) and 47 (Concurrent). They have grown and shrunk through amendment — most prominently the Forty-second Amendment, 1976, which moved Education, Forests, Weights and Measures, Protection of Wild Animals and Birds, and Administration of Justice from the State List to the Concurrent List, increasing Union influence in the federal balance. The current count is 97 Union, 59 State, and 52 Concurrent entries (with some renumbering). The 101st Amendment, 2016, inserted Article 246A and Entry 92A-related changes to make room for Goods and Services Tax, simultaneously deleting some pre-GST entries.

The doctrines that police the Seventh Schedule — pith and substance, ancillary and incidental encroachment, the doctrine of repugnancy under Article 254, harmonious construction of overlapping entries, and the federal-supremacy rule of Article 246(1) — are the daily diet of constitutional litigation and have an entire chapter to themselves. See our deep-dive on the distribution of legislative powers and the companion chapter on Centre-State legislative relations.

Eighth Schedule — recognised languages

The Eighth Schedule lists the languages recognised by the Constitution. Article 344(1) requires the Language Commission to be drawn from "different languages specified in the Eighth Schedule", and Article 351 directs the Union to develop Hindi by drawing on the other Schedule languages. The original Schedule had 14 languages. The Twenty-first Amendment, 1967, added Sindhi. The Seventy-first Amendment, 1992, added Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali. The Ninety-second Amendment, 2003, added Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali, taking the total to its current count of 22 languages.

Inclusion in the Eighth Schedule does not automatically make a language an official language of the Union — that status, under Article 343, belongs to Hindi in Devanagari script (with English continuing under the Official Languages Act). Nor does it confer official status on the language in any State; State official languages are decided by State Legislatures under Article 345. What Eighth-Schedule status carries is recognition for purposes of the Language Commission's mandate, the Article 351 enrichment direction, public-service-examination optional papers, and several allied statutory schemes. The relationship between the Eighth Schedule, Articles 343 to 351, and State language laws is unpacked in our chapter on Official Language — Hindi, English, and the Eighth Schedule.

Ninth Schedule — laws immunised from fundamental-rights challenge

The Ninth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, together with Article 31B, to protect the early land-reform laws from being struck down on fundamental-rights grounds. Article 31B says that "none of the Acts and Regulations specified in the Ninth Schedule, nor any of the provisions thereof, shall be deemed to be void, or ever to have become void, on the ground that such Act or provision is inconsistent with… any of the rights conferred by any provisions of [Part III]".

What began with thirteen items has grown to over 280 entries — far beyond land-reform legislation, sweeping in laws on tenancy, ceilings, urban property, reservations, monopolies, the privy purses, and many more. The judicial response has been long and contested. In Waman Rao v. Union of India (1981), the Supreme Court held that laws inserted into the Schedule before 24 April 1973 — the date of Kesavananda Bharati — were saved, but laws inserted on or after that date had to be tested against the basic structure doctrine.

I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007) 2 SCC 1 settled the matter for the modern era. A nine-judge bench held that any law placed in the Ninth Schedule after 24 April 1973, even if inserted by constitutional amendment, can be tested against the basic structure — particularly against the principles underlying the fundamental rights to equality, freedom, and life and personal liberty. As the Court put it, to override the entirety of Part III by invoking Article 31B "would not only make the fundamental rights overridden by directive principles but it would also defeat fundamentals such as secularism, separation of powers, equality and also judicial review which are the basic features of the Constitution". The Ninth Schedule is therefore no longer a constitutional black box. Our chapter on the basic structure doctrine traces this story from Kesavananda through Coelho.

Tenth Schedule — the anti-defection code

The Tenth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985, with the express object of curbing the evil of political defection. Article 102(2) and Article 191(2) make disqualification under the Tenth Schedule a fresh ground of disqualification for membership of Parliament and the State Legislatures respectively, in addition to the Article 102(1) and Article 191(1) grounds.

The scheme has three pillars. First, paragraph 2 lists the grounds of disqualification: voluntary giving up of party membership, voting (or abstaining from voting) contrary to a party whip without permission and without the disobedience being condoned within fifteen days, and (for nominated and independent members) joining a political party in defined circumstances. Second, paragraph 4 originally protected splits — a one-third break-away — and paragraph 3 protected mergers; paragraph 3 was deleted by the Ninety-first Amendment, 2003, leaving only the two-thirds merger exception. Third, paragraph 6 makes the Speaker (or Chairman) the adjudicator of every defection question, and paragraph 7 originally tried to oust the writ jurisdiction altogether.

That ouster did not survive judicial scrutiny. In Kihota Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992), the Constitution Bench struck down paragraph 7 for non-compliance with the Article 368 proviso, but upheld the rest of the Tenth Schedule. The Speaker's order under paragraph 6 was held to be a judicial determination amenable to judicial review on the grounds of mala fides, perversity, jurisdictional error, and violation of natural justice. The Tenth Schedule is also expressly cross-referenced in Article 103 (Parliamentary disqualification) and Article 192 (State Legislature disqualification), and the cross-reference clarifies that Tenth-Schedule disqualifications are decided by the Speaker, not by the President or Governor on the Election Commission's opinion.

Eleventh Schedule — Panchayat subjects

The Eleventh Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-third Amendment) Act, 1992, which gave constitutional status to Panchayati Raj. Article 243G empowers State Legislatures to endow Panchayats with such powers and authority as are necessary to enable them to function as institutions of self-government, including in relation to "the matters listed in the Eleventh Schedule". The Schedule contains 29 subject-heads — agriculture, land improvement, minor irrigation, animal husbandry, fisheries, social forestry, minor forest produce, small-scale industries, rural housing, drinking water, fuel and fodder, roads and bridges, rural electrification, non-conventional energy, poverty alleviation, education, technical training, adult and non-formal education, libraries, cultural activities, markets and fairs, health and sanitation, family welfare, women and child development, social welfare, welfare of the weaker sections (including SCs and STs), public distribution, maintenance of community assets, and so on.

The Schedule does not by itself confer any legislative power. As the Supreme Court noted in U.P. Gram Panchayat Adhikari Sangh v. Daya Ram Saroj (2007) and again in State of UP v. Zila Parishad, Ghaziabad (2013), Article 243G is an enabling provision; it is for the State Legislature to actually devolve powers and finances to the Panchayats by appropriate law. The Eleventh Schedule thus operates much like the Seventh Schedule — it sets a menu of subjects across which the State Legislature may distribute administrative responsibility between itself and the Panchayats.

Twelfth Schedule — Municipality subjects

The Twelfth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (Seventy-fourth Amendment) Act, 1992, the urban counterpart of the 73rd Amendment. Article 243W permits State Legislatures to endow Municipalities (and Wards Committees) with such powers and authority as are necessary to function as institutions of self-government, including in relation to "the matters listed in the Twelfth Schedule". The Schedule contains 18 subject-heads — urban planning including town planning, regulation of land-use and construction of buildings, planning for economic and social development, roads and bridges, water supply, public health, fire services, urban forestry, safeguarding the interests of the weaker sections, slum improvement and upgradation, urban poverty alleviation, urban amenities and provision of cultural, educational and aesthetic aspects, burials and cremations, cattle pounds and prevention of cruelty to animals, vital statistics including registration of births and deaths, public amenities (street lighting, parking lots, bus stops, public conveniences), and regulation of slaughter houses and tanneries.

As with the Eleventh Schedule, the Twelfth Schedule is enabling, not mandatory. The Supreme Court in Shanti G. Patel v. State of Maharashtra (2006) clarified that a court can direct the State to legislate within a time-frame, but cannot strike down existing State laws merely because devolution under the Twelfth Schedule has been incomplete.

Schedules and amendment — the layered procedure

The amendment regime for the Schedules is layered, and it tells the reader a great deal about the Constitution's design. The First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule can be altered by ordinary Parliamentary law under Article 4 — not constitutional amendments at all. The Fifth Schedule (paragraph 7) and the Sixth Schedule (paragraph 21) can be amended by Parliament by ordinary law in defined respects, an unusual conferral of constituent-style power on simple legislation. The remaining Schedules — Second, Third, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth — are amended through Article 368, with the Seventh Schedule additionally requiring ratification by half the State Legislatures under the proviso to Article 368(2) because it touches the federal balance.

Several Schedules also overlap with the basic structure doctrine. The Seventh Schedule's allocation of subjects between the Union and the States is bound up with federalism, identified as a basic feature in Kesavananda and Bommai. The Ninth Schedule, after Coelho, is no longer immune from basic-structure scrutiny. The Tenth Schedule survived Kihota Hollohan on the merits but lost paragraph 7 because the Article 368 proviso had not been observed. The amendment story of the Schedules is therefore inseparable from the larger constitutional law of amendment of the Constitution and from emergency-era jurisprudence on the limits of constituent power.

Reading the Schedules in exam preparation

For judiciary preparation and CLAT PG, three rules of thumb are worth carrying. First, every Schedule is the operative companion of one or more Articles; never read a Schedule cold — always pair it with the Article that activates it (Article 1 with Schedule I, Article 80 with Schedule IV, Article 244 with Schedules V and VI, Article 246 with Schedule VII, Article 343 with Schedule VIII, Article 31B with Schedule IX, Article 102/191 with Schedule X, Article 243G with Schedule XI, Article 243W with Schedule XII). Second, the amendment number that created or expanded a Schedule is itself examinable: 7th Amendment (First and Fourth Schedules in 1956), 1st Amendment (Ninth Schedule in 1951), 21st, 71st and 92nd Amendments (Eighth Schedule), 52nd Amendment (Tenth Schedule in 1985), 73rd and 74th Amendments (Eleventh and Twelfth Schedules in 1992 and 1993). Third, two case names will rescue most fact-patterns on the Ninth and Tenth Schedules — I.R. Coelho for the basic-structure check on the Ninth, and Kihota Hollohan for the survival of the Tenth minus paragraph 7.

The Schedules deserve more attention than they typically get. They are where the Constitution does its bookkeeping, draws its political bargains, and parks the lists that would otherwise overrun the body of the document. Treat them as part of the text, not as appendices, and several apparently puzzling Articles — special provisions for Scheduled Castes and Tribes among them — fall into place at once.

Frequently asked questions

How many Schedules does the Constitution of India have today?

Twelve. The original Constitution of 1950 had only eight Schedules. The Ninth Schedule was added by the First Amendment Act, 1951, the Tenth Schedule by the Fifty-second Amendment Act, 1985, the Eleventh Schedule by the Seventy-third Amendment Act, 1992, and the Twelfth Schedule by the Seventy-fourth Amendment Act, 1992. The total has stood at twelve since the Seventy-fourth Amendment came into force in 1993; no further Schedule has been added since.

Can the First Schedule be amended without going through Article 368?

Yes. Article 4(1) of the Constitution permits any law made under Articles 2 or 3 — for the formation of new States or alteration of existing State boundaries — to contain such provisions for the amendment of the First Schedule and the Fourth Schedule as may be necessary. Article 4(2) then expressly states that no such law shall be deemed to be an amendment of the Constitution for the purposes of Article 368. Every State reorganisation since 1956 has therefore amended the First Schedule by ordinary Parliamentary law.

Are laws in the Ninth Schedule still completely immune from judicial review?

No. The position changed with the nine-judge bench in I.R. Coelho v. State of Tamil Nadu (2007) 2 SCC 1. Any law inserted into the Ninth Schedule on or after 24 April 1973 — the date of Kesavananda Bharati — can be tested against the basic structure doctrine, particularly against the principles underlying the fundamental rights to equality, freedom, and life and personal liberty under Articles 14, 19 and 21. Pre-Kesavananda insertions remain protected following Waman Rao v. Union of India (1981).

Which Amendment created the Tenth Schedule and what survived judicial scrutiny?

The Tenth Schedule was inserted by the Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act, 1985 to combat political defection. In Kihota Hollohan v. Zachillhu (1992), the Constitution Bench upheld the substantive scheme but struck down paragraph 7, which had purported to oust the writ jurisdiction of the High Courts and Supreme Court, for non-compliance with the proviso to Article 368(2). The Speaker's decision under paragraph 6 was held to be a judicial determination subject to judicial review on grounds of mala fides, perversity, and jurisdictional error.

What is the difference between the Fifth Schedule and the Sixth Schedule?

The Fifth Schedule (Article 244(1)) governs the administration and control of Scheduled Areas and Scheduled Tribes in States other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. It works through the Governor and Tribes Advisory Councils. The Sixth Schedule (Article 244(2)) governs the tribal areas of Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram through Autonomous District Councils and Autonomous Regional Councils with their own legislative, executive and judicial powers. The two regimes are mutually exclusive — no State falls under both.

How many languages are listed in the Eighth Schedule and how did the count grow?

Twenty-two. The original Eighth Schedule listed fourteen languages. Sindhi was added by the Twenty-first Amendment, 1967. Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were added by the Seventy-first Amendment, 1992. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added by the Ninety-second Amendment, 2003. Inclusion in the Eighth Schedule does not by itself make a language an official language of the Union or of any State; it carries recognition for the purposes of Article 344, Article 351, and various allied statutory schemes.