According to the Constitution of India, it is the duty of the President of India to cause to be laid before the Parliament which of the following? 1) The Recommendations of the Union Finance Commission 2) The Report of the Public Accounts Committee 3) The Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General 4) The Report of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes Select the correct answer using the codes given below :

The correct answer is C. The President's duty to lay documents before Parliament is set out in specific articles, and only statements 1, 3 and 4 fall under it.

• Statement 1 (correct): Under Article 281, the President must cause the recommendations of the Finance Commission, along with an explanatory memorandum on action taken, to be laid before each House.
• Statement 2 (wrong): The Public Accounts Committee is a parliamentary committee. Its reports are presented to the Lok Sabha by its Chairman, usually the Speaker's nominee. The President has no constitutional role here.
• Statement 3 (correct): Under Article 151, CAG reports on the accounts of the Union are submitted to the President, who must cause them to be laid before each House.
• Statement 4 (correct): Under Article 338, the President must cause the reports of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes to be laid before each House, along with a memorandum of action taken.

The core concept is the set of constitutionally mandated reports that pass through the President for tabling. This links to Mains GS-II on accountability and the financial relationship between the Centre and the States, and to GS-III on the role of the CAG.

Trap: Aspirants tend to assume that every important report reaches Parliament through the President. Only reports with a specific constitutional provision do. PAC reports are a parliamentary committee's output and are not tabled through the President.