JOIN USLaw Commission could be made permanent body
The Law Commission, which advises government on complex legal issues, could be turned into a permanent body.
At present, the Union Cabinet re-constitutes the Commission every three years. After the Commission is reconstituted, a new Chairman and members are appointed to run the panel.
Deposing before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, Law Secretary P K Malhotra said, “Since the Law Commission is continuously functioning since 1959 and is reconstituted every three years, it is suggested that it be made a permanent body either by an Executive Order or by an Act of Parliament.”
The Parliamentary panel was scrutinising the demands for grants of the Law Ministry.
If the law panel is converted into a permanent body by an Act of Parliament, it will become a statutory body. If it is made a permanent body by an executive order, it will be on the lines of the erstwhile Planning Commission or its new avatar Niti Aayog. Both were constituted by a resolution adopted by the Union Cabinet.
In 2010, the then UPA government had prepared a draft Cabinet note to give statutory status to the Law Commission and the Law Ministry had mooted to bring the Law Commission of India Bill, 2010.
Limited time
Sources in the Law Ministry said this will help the panel bring out more reports without compromising on quality as three years is a limited time.
In its report submitted to Parliament last week, the standing committee expressed its concern at the slow pace at which decisions are taken by the government on reports of Law Commission. It recommended that recommendations of the law panel are decided upon preferably within a year of submission.
The reports of the Law Commission are considered by the Law Ministry in consultation with the administrative ministries concerned and are submitted to Parliament. They are cited in courts, in academic and public discourses but are not binding on the government.