Given below are two statements one is labeled as Assertion (A) and other as Reason (R): Assertion (A): The President of India determines the qualification of the Chairman and Members of the Finance Commission. Reason (R): Chairman and members are appointed by the President of india. Select the correct using the codes given below. Codes:

The correct answer is D. The Assertion is false and the Reason is true.

Article 280(1) provides that the President constitutes the Finance Commission, and the Chairman and the other four members are appointed by the President. So the Reason is correct. Article 280(2), however, says Parliament may by law determine the qualifications of members and the procedure for their selection. The President does not fix the qualifications; Parliament does. That makes the Assertion false.

Core concept: the separation between executive appointment and legislative determination of eligibility. The Finance Commission sits at the centre of Centre-State fiscal relations. For Mains, connect it to vertical and horizontal devolution under Article 270 and to the debate on cooperative federalism.

Options A, B and C fail because each accepts the Assertion. Option C is the closest trap, since a student who knows the President appoints members may assume the President also sets their qualifications.

Trap: assuming that whoever appoints an official also sets the qualifications. Under Article 280(2), qualifications come from Parliament's law, not from the President's power of appointment.