Explain the significance of the 101st Constitutional Amendment Act. To what extent does it reflect the accommodative spirit of…

The 101st Constitutional Amendment Act, 2016, was the enabling instrument for GST. By inserting Article 246A, it gave Parliament and State Legislatures concurrent power to legislate on GST on supplies, and by inserting Article 279A it created the GST Council. The Council, chaired by the Union Finance Minister with State Finance Ministers, embodies cooperative federalism: the Union holds one-third voting weight and States two-thirds, each State having an equal vote within that share.

Its significance is economic as much as constitutional. It made “One Nation, One Tax” possible, removed cascading tax-on-tax, enlarged the tax base, and encouraged formalisation by simplifying compliance and input-credit flow. In September 2025 the 56th GST Council meeting rationalised rates into two main slabs, showing the Council's consensus model at work.

The amendment’s federal character is accommodative but limited. States accepted a shared tax base and Council recommendations, reducing unilateral fiscal autonomy; in return, Section 18 of the Amendment Act provided a five-year compensation guarantee for revenue loss, and Article 279A(11) envisaged a dispute-resolution framework, though it has not yet been operationalised. Asymmetry is addressed only partially: the Council may recommend special provisions for special category States under Article 279A(4)(g), but it did not create a separate special-category status, and manufacturing States may still feel disadvantaged relative to consuming States. In Union of India v. Mohit Minerals (2022), the Supreme Court observed that GST Council recommendations are not automatically binding, but require legislative action and due regard to federal principles. Thus, the 101st Amendment strengthened cooperative federalism by institutionalising consultation, but it remains an accommodative rather than fully symmetrical settlement.