Statutory Institutions/Commissions

• 
  Use this as per convenience: PB Mehta and Devesh Kapur in their book - rethinking public institutions in India - Political interference, executive overreach, the failure to propagate standards of accountability—both within institutions and outside them—have long plagued India’s institutional edifice

• NCW

1. start with line of Simon de Beauvoir.
2. India had constituted committee on status of women in India in 1974 . This committee came out with “towards equality report” that had recommended the formation of NCW
3. It was established in 1992 under the NCW Act 1990
4. Constitutional provisions- 14,15,16,21,FD,DPSP.
5. Fundamental duty to protect women’s dignity
6. Dpsp- 39A,39D(equal pay for equal work for men and women), 42(maternity leave)
7. Reservation in PRI,ULB
8. 
• MANDATE
• 

• Drawback
1. Dependent on union for funds and funcationaries hence hesitant to criticise union govt
2. At best it Protects women but not empowers them
3. Means to distribute political patronage
4. Struggle between member secy and chairperson
5. recommendations are not mandatory.
6. Sadhna Arya- centre for women development studies- members lack transformational ideology and not proactive.
7. NCW head accused women of crying rape to settle property disputes and claim compensation. Also NCW head had suggested that women being called “sexy” should take it as a compliment.
8. Pam Rajput comm: NCW must go beyond reactive instruments to fulfill the proactive mandate of studying,influencing policies,laws to ensure full benefits to women
9. Funds to be charged on CFI so as to make the body independent
10. All members of NCW are women based on the ideology of radical feminism that only women can understand problems of women, which today is not true.
11. BR Ambedkar- I measure the progress of a community with the progress of its female members. NCW can help in realising the ideals of feminism that advocates eliminating patriarchy and equality between men and women in all spheres of life.
12. Further reading- https://insightsonindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/national_commission_for_women-1.pdf

• NC minorities
• 
  democracy is not rule of majority but the protection of minority- Albert camus
• Indian constitution recognises two types of minorities based on language and religion. Six communities have been notified as minority communities under section 2(c)of the NCM act 1992
• NCM adhered to universal declaration of 1992 which states that states shall protect thr existence of national,ethnic,linguistic and religious identity of minorities within their territories.
• 
1. Lord Bhikhu Parekh, praises Indian constitution for adopting mulicultural approach and providing rights to minorities at par with majorities, thus establishing equality before law.
2. Minorities given special rights under article 25-28 and 29,30
3. Sacchar committee- almost 25%Muslims have dropped out of school or never attention
   
4. Only 4% are graduates
5. 3% in AIS
• Way ahead
1. Constitutional status can be provided to increase its powers and autonomy and decrease dependence on govt for funds and functionaries
2. Not just power to look but also investigation of complaint
3. Members are nominated on political patronage
4. Over emphasis on Muslim minorities ignoring minorities from other religions
5. PM jan kalyan yojana focussed primarily on minorities
6. 
• Conclusion- Follow sabka sath sabka vikas sabka vishwas approach

• Ncst- 89AA added article 338A
• Article 244 (fifth and sixth schedule areas), article 23,29,30,46
• 330- seats reserved in state assemblies
• 334- seats reserved in Lok Sabha
• 243-seats reserved in panchayats
• 371 A to 371 H-special provisions in states with significant tribal populations. customary laws are allowed for certain practices.
• Nehru proposed tribal panchsheel in his work - The right approach to tribal people
• Scst act,1989
• Issues-
• Has not delivered a single report to parliament in last 4 years
• Met only 4 times in 2021-22
• Rate of resolution of complaints is just 50%
• Pesa
• State legislation to be in conformity with the customary law, social and religious practises and customary mode of the concerned area
• Gram sabha for every village
• Rights over the local resources namely Forest rights , Minor mineral rights
• Customary mode of dispute resolution
• Approval of plans and projects and selection of beneficiaries by gram Sabha
• Fra
• 
  
  
• Xaxa commiittes- 
1. Power to gram Sabha in case of land acquisition
2. Mining rights to be given to tribal coop
3. Acquired but unused land to be made use for tribal rehab
4. Constitution of judicial commission for naxal offences.
5. Rehab in natural forest and not forest of concrete

• CAG- art 148-151
• Intro:Accountability and transparency are two cardinal principles of good governance and depend on how well the public audit function is discharged- Not just an accountant by Vinod Rai
• Br ambedkar-one of the most important constitutional office.
• Guardian of the public purse and the custodian of entire financial system of the country-at centre and state levels
• Parliamentary form of govt puts the parliament as the supreme intitution for accountability and CAG helps the PAC to scrutinze actions of Govt and ensure fiscal responsibility to the people of India
• brings into focus instances of financial impropriety by persons holding high public offices.
• undertakes three types of audit:
• Compliance audit
• Financial audit
• performance audit
• Credits:
• 1962- indicted defence minister VK Menon regarding purchase of army jeeps
• Bofors gun deal
• 2G —> estimated prospective loss to nation because of faulty auction processes
• Adarsh housing society
• Augusta westland VVIP choppers.
• Issues:
• 2nd ARC report on financial mgmt highlights systemic weaknesses such as :
• mode of appointment is controlled by ruling party
• delay on the part of govt to respond to the reports of CAG. No penal provision.
• Make PAC terminus with life of loksabha
• CAG has reported that there is lack of cooperation by ministries in complying with audit enquiries.
• CAG does a post mortem analysis of govt expenditure.
• no clear time frame for tabling the completed reports and the action that must be taken on it.
• Govt not bound by recommendations.
• There is a feeling that external audit reports tend to be unduly negative and focuses on regularities and fault finding
• Audit does not always recognise the practical constraints under which the government is functioning
• Audit often does not discriminate between errors arising out of Bona fight intentions and Melafide intentions
• Audit does not give due credit for good performance
• Audit is viewed as a system for policing government organisations
• Cannot audit secret services, LIC,RBI,etc
• The audit act 1971 prescribes no time limit when the entity being audited has to respond to audit requests of CAG. this delays the process altogether.
• Recommendation to cover local bodies and PPP projects in the audit act 1971.
• SC in Arvind Gupta case 1971 and United teleservices provider case 2014 said CAG is not a muneem of the GOI and there is no constitutional limitation on mandate of CAG in terms of audit.
• way ahead-
• CAG could be made multi member body
• Collegium system can be appointed as is done for CBI director
• conclusion: PM Modi- CAG is a heritage and every generation must cherish it.

• Election commission- art 324 to 329.

1. 
   Sy Quereshi- book- undocumented wonder- India is known for three things in the world, Gandhi,taj Mahal, and elections. He says “democracy and elections have a congenital, inseparable relationship.”
2. Advisory jurisdiction
1. Advices Prez and Governor regarding disqualification
2. Advices prez on conducting elections during president’s rule in a state
3. quasi judicial function
1. Settling election disputes
2. Incase of a split, recognising the legitimate faction and Allocating symbols to them
3. Disqualify candidates failing to lodge election expenses in due time
4. Powers to reduce disqualification of a candidate
5. Deciding matters related to violations of model code of conduct
4. Administrative functions: to conduct elections
5. issues in electoral process:
1. Increasing role of money power-
1. 60000 cr spent in Lok Sabha 2019, second only to US 2020 elections
2. Electoral  bonds outside RTI and IT act
2. 3Ms money muscle and media
3. Recent amendment to FCRA act has relaxed the definition of foreign companies allowing Indian subsidiaries of foreign companies to be treated as exempted from FCRA
6. challenges
1. Budget is not charged- Law ministry sanctions the budget
2. Frequent violations of mcc
3. Question mark on evm and vvpat after every election 
4. Pranab Mukherjee had to remind eci to maintain institutional integrity during 2019 elections
5. 66 former bureaucrats had written to president to ensure EC's neutrality
6. Allowing campaign in WB amidst second wave
7. Recently the CEC and 2 ECs were called for a meeting by the PMO. Such instances lead to speculation about EC’s neutrality
8. Inadequate staff
9. Not a dedicated cadre of bureaucracy as officers are sent on deputation to ECI.
7. reforms
1. Constitutional proteciton of tenure to EC as is given to CEC
2. Reducing EC’s dependence on law ministry,home ministry and DOPT for human and material resources
3. expenditures must be charged and not voted upon the CFI to ensure independence of ECI
4. MCC to have legal backing - Dinesh goswami committee and NCRWC
5. Collegium system to appoint CEC and EC - NCRWC
6. Political parties must maintain accounts of receipt of funds and expenditure in a systematic and regular manner – NCRWC
7. ECI is also demanding a new section 58B in RPA, 1951 to deal with money menace similar to section 58A which is related to booth capturing
8. EC must also be given powers to deregister a political party
9. 2nd ARC also recommends constitution of Special Elections Tribunal for speedy disposal of election petitions and disputes
10. Indrajit Gupta comm- partial state funding of elections
• conclusion-An independent Eci is a gift of the constitution to the nation. If India is known for it's democracy,credit goes to ECI to a large extent.

• Nhrc
• Intro: statement of Laski.
• As per UDHR these rights are inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.
• NHRC was established in 1993 as per provisions of Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 and in consonance with Paris principles on HR,1991
• Mandate: to strengthen the culture of HR in india and sensitize both administration and civil society wrt to the respect for Human rights
• Issues-
• Selection committee dominated by ruling party
• 
  It’s almost as if the whole purpose of the NHRC is to ‘take cognisance’ and issue a notice, and then wait until its members are piqued by some other news report.
• 
  It has been termed as ‘India’s teasing illusion’ by Soli Sorabjee (former Attorney-General of India) due to its incapacity to render any practical relief to the aggrieved party.
• 
  former chairperson HL Dattu has called it a toothless tiger as even after its existence so long, no qualitative improvement in india on HR.
• Depends on Union govts for funds and functionaries which in turn compromises its autonomy to hold the govt to task.
• it does not has powers wrt HR violations by the armed forces .
• NHRC does not have any mechanism of investigation. In majority cases, it asks the concerned Central and State Governments to investigate the cases of the violation of Human Rights
• NHRC can only make recommendations, without the power to enforce them.
• Many times NHRC is viewed as post-retirement destinations for judges and bureaucrats with political affiliation
• A large number of grievances go unaddressed because NHRC cannot investigate the complaint registered after one year of incident.
• Suggestions-
• Commission decisions must be made enforceable.
• There is need to change composition of commission by including members from civil society and activists.
• NHRC needs to develop an independent cadre of staff with appropriate experience.
• It must be made mandatory to submit an action taken report by the executive within a year
• Initiatives by NHRC:
• online complaint registration through HRCNet portal,
  MADAD counter which assists the complainants in filing complaints.
• Actions taken:
• Issued notice to MH govt for death of 16 migrants run over by trains.
• Success- rehab of chakma refugees
• tada/pota struck down
• The National Human Rights Commission has issued notice to Odisha governmentfor payment of ₹10 lakh to children been given expired medicines
• Sent notice to Rajasthan govt to explain to deaths of infants in kota
• Sent notice to UP govt on encounters of criminals
• 
  
  
• conclusion: Nonetheless NHRC has played a key role in developing a culture of human rights in India. To deny people their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. — Nelson Mandela

• Ncsc- article 338
• In order to provide the Scheduled Castes of Indian society safeguards against exploitation and to promote their social, economic, educational and cultural development, the Commission was set up by the Government of India.
• 
• Paper tiger
• Reports not debated
• Conflict between ncsc and min of social justice
• Priorities lopsided in favour of elits of sc communities

• Ncbc
• 338B
• 102 AA (100th AA - land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, 101st AA was GST, 103rd was reservation to EWS)
• under Min of social justice and empowerment
• constituted after indra sawhney and others vs union of india case in 1993 by NCBC act 1993
• 
• 
  Solve grievances of SEBC
• Consider inclusion and exclusion of castes from OBCs.
• Now the president would have to state with reasons for not following advice of NCBC in front of parliament.

• NITI Aayog

1. Niti Aayog is like a funnel, that takes ideas from experts, civil society, academicians and transfers it as an input in the system and follows up on it- Niti Aayog VC Rajeev kumar

• Lokpal
• The Lokpal Act provides for setting up of an anti-corruption ombudsman called Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the State-level.
• The Lokpal would consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members of which 50 per cent shall be judicial members.  50 per cent of members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.
• The ambit of Lokpal would cover all categories of public servants, including the Prime Minister with the exception of armed forces.
• The Lokpal Act mandated the states to institute Lokayukta within one year of the commencement of the Act.
• Lokpal will also have powers of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the Lokpal.
• Lokpal is appointed based on the recommendation of the five-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, the Chief Justice of India and an eminent jurist nominated by the President.
• 
• 
• 
• Second ARC-
• There should be an organic link between lokpal and CVC to ensure information sharing and prompt action against all persons involved.
• System of local bodies ombudsman maybe established