Constitutional Bodies (Part - 2) - Polity and Constitution, UPSC, IAS. | Polity and Constitution (Prelims) by IAS Masters PDF Download

Constitutional Bodies

National Commission for Backward Classes

(A Statutory Body under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment)

Pursuant to the direction of the Supreme Court in the Mandal case judgment, the Government of India enacted the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 for setting up a National Commission for Backward Classes at the Centre as a permanent body. Article 340 of the Constitution provides for the appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of and the difficulties faced by the socially and educationally backward classes and to make appropriate recommendations.
The Act came into effect on the 2nd April, 1993. The Act provides that the Commission shall consist of five Members, comprising of a Chairperson who is or has been a judge of the Supreme Court or of a High Court; a social scientist; two persons, who have special knowledge in matters relating to backward classes; and a Member-Secretary, who is or has been an officer of the Central Government in the rank of a Secretary to the Government of India.

Functions of the Commission under the Act

The Commission shall examine requests for inclusion of any class of citizens as a backward class in the Central List of Backward Classes and hear complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion of any backward class in the lists and tender such advice to the Central Government as it deems appropriate. Under Section 9(2) of the Act, "The advice of the Commission shall ordinarily be binding upon the Central Government".

Under Section 11 (1) of the Act, the Central Government may at any time, and shall, at the expiration of ten years from the coming into force of this Act and every succeeding period of ten years thereafter, undertake revision of the lists with a view to excluding from such lists those classes who have ceased to be backward classes or for including in such lists new backward classes.

The Commission, after studying the criteria/ indicators framed by the Mandal Commission and the commissions set up in the past by different state Governments and other relevant materials, formulated the following guidelines for considering requests for inclusion in the list of Other Backward Classes:

A. Social

1. Castes and communities generally considered as socially backward.

2. (a) Castes and communities, which mainly depend on agricultural and/or other manual labour for their livelihood and are lacking any significant resource base.
b) Castes and communities, which, for their livelihood, mainly depend on agricultural and/or other manual labour for wage and are lacking any significant base.
c) Castes and communities, the women of which, as a general practice, earn their family's livelihood, engaged in agricultural and/or other manual labour, for wage.
d) Castes and communities, the children of which, as a general practice, are, for family's livelihood or for supplementing family's low income, mainly engaged in agricultural and/ or manual labour.

e) Castes and communities, which in terms of caste system, are identified with traditional crafts or traditional or hereditary occupations considered to be lowly or undignified.
f) Castes and communities, which in terms of the caste system, are identified with tradtional or hereditary occupations considered to be 'unclean' or stigmatized.
g) Nomadic and semi-nomadic castes and communities.

h) Denotified or Vimukta Jati castes and communities

3. Castes and communities, having no representation or poor representation in the State Legislative Assembly and/or district-level Panchayati Raj institutions during the ten years preceding the date of the application

B. Educational

1. Castes and communities whose literacy rate is at least 8% less than the State or district average.
2. Castes and communities of which the proportion of matriculates is at least 20 per cent less than the State or district average.
3. Castes and communities, of which the proportion of graduates is at least 20 percent less than the State or district average.

C. Economic

1. Castes and communities, a significant proportion of whose members reside only in Kachha houses.
2. Castes and communities, the share of whose members in number of cases and in extent of agricultural lands surrendered under the Agricultural Land Ceiling Act of the State, is nil or significantly low.

Justice V. Eswaraiah is the Chairperson currently.

Constitutional Provisions

Article 16 provides for Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth

1. The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.
2. No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them, be subject to any disability, liability, restriction or condition with regard to –
3. access to shops, public restaurants, hotels and places of public entertainment; or
4. the use of wells, tanks, bathing ghats, roads and places of public resort maintained wholly of partly out of State funds or dedicated to the use of the general public.
5. Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any special provision for women and children.

1. [(4) Nothing in this article or in clause (2) of article 29 shall prevent the State from making any special provision for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.]
2. [(5)  Nothing in this article or in sub-clause (g) of clause (1) of article 19 shall prevent the State from making any special provision by law, for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens or for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in so far as such special provisions relate to their admission to educational institutions including private educational institutions, whether aided or unaided by the  State, other than the minority educational institutions referred to in clause (1) of article 30].

Article 16 provides for Equality of opportunity in matters of public employment.

1. There shall be equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or appointment to any office under the State.
2. No citizen shall, on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, residence or any of them, be ineligible for, or discriminated against in respect of, any employment or office under the State.
3. Nothing in this article shall prevent Parliament from making any law prescribing, in regard to a class or classes of employment or appointment to an office 1[under the Government of, or any local or other authority within, a State or Union territory, any requirement as to residence within that State or Union territory] prior to such employment or appointment.
4. Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any backward class of citizens which, in the opinion of the State, is not adequately represented in the services under the State.
5. 2[(4A) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from making any provision for reservation 3[in matters of promotion, with consequential seniority, to any class] or classes of posts in the services under the State in favour of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes which, in the opinion of the State, are not adequately represented in the services under the State.]
   4(4B) Nothing in this article shall prevent the State from considering any unfilled vacancies of a year which are reserved for being filled up in that year in accordance with any provision for reservation made under clause (4) or clause (4A) as a separate class of vacancies to be filled up in any succeeding year or years and such class of vacancies shall not be considered together with the vacancies of the year in which they are being filled up for determining the ceiling of fifty per cent. reservation on total number of vacancies of that year.]
6. Nothing in this article shall affect the operation of any law which provides that the incumbent of an office in connection with the affairs of any religious or denominational institution or any member of the governing body thereof shall be a person professing a particular religion or belonging to a particular denomination.
   
   Article 340 of the Constitution provides for the appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of and the difficulties faced by the socially and educationally backward classes and to make appropriate recommendations .The article reads as under :-
7. “ 340. Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes –

1. The President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit to investigate the conditions of the socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India and the difficulties under which they labour and to make recommendations as to the steps that should be taken by the Union or any State to remove such difficulties and to improve their condition and as to the grants that should be made for the purpose by the Union or any state and the conditions subject to which such grants should be made, and the order appointing such commission shall define the procedure to be followed by the Commission.
2. A Commission so appointed shall investigate the matters referred to them and present to the President a report setting out the facts as found by them and make such recommendations as they think proper.
3. The President shall cause a copy of the report so presented together with a memorandum explaining the action taken thereon to be laid before each house of Parliament. ”

Under Article 338(5) of the Constitution, the following are the powers of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes:

It shall be duty of the Commission –

1. to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under this Commission or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards;
2. to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under this Commission or under any other law for the time being in force or under any order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards;
3. to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes;
4. to participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State;
5. to present to the President, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
6. to make in such report recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or any State for the effective implementation of those safeguards and other measures for the protection, welfare and socio-economic development of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; and
7. to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare and development and advancement of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify.”

By clause (10) of the same Article, “Backward Classes” are included within the expression “Scheduled Castes”.  Clause (10) of Article 338 reads as follows:

“(10) In this article references to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be construed as including references to such other backward classes as the President may, on receipt of the report of a Commission appointed under clause (1) of Article 340, by order specify and also to the Anglo-Indian community”.

Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities

Article 350B of the Constitution provides for the appointment by President of a Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities. This Officer is known as National 

Commissioner Lingusitic Minorities.

It is his duty to investigate all matters relating to safeguards provided for the linguistic minorities and report to the President at such intervals as may be fixed and to monitor the implementation of safeguards through questionnaires, visits, conferences, seminars, meetings, review mechanism, etc.

Annual reports are being presented to the President through the Minister of Minority Affairs.

They are laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament.

National Commission for Minorities 

(An Organization to safeguard the Constitutional and Legal rights of Minorities)

The setting up of Minorities Commission was envisaged in the Ministry of Home Affairs Resolution in 1978, which specifically mentioned that, "despite the safeguards provided in the Constitution and the laws in force, there persists among the Minorities a feeling of inequality and discrimination. In order to preserve secular traditions and to promote National Integration, the Government of India attaches the highest importance to the enforcement of the safeguards provided for the Minorities and is of the firm view that effective institutional arrangements are urgently required for the enforcement and implementation of all the safeguards provided for the Minorities in the Constitution, in the Central and State Laws and in the government policies and administrative schemes enunciated from time to time." The Minorities Commission was accordingly set up to safeguard the interests of minorities whether based on religion or language. The Commission was renamed as National Commission for Minorities and the first Statutory Commission was constituted in 1993. Aggrieved persons belonging to the minority communities may approach the concerned State Minorities Commissions for redressal of their grievances.  They may also send their representations, to the National Commission for Minorities, after exhausting all remedies available to them.

Constitution of the National Commission for Minorities

Under Section 3(2) of the NCM Act, the Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and 5 members to be nominated by the Central Govt.

1) The Central Government shall constitute a body to be known as the National Commission for Minorities to exercise the powers conferred on, and to perform the functions assigned to it under this Act.

2) The Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, a Vice Chairperson and five Members to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst persons of eminence, ability and integrity; Provided that five Members including the Chairperson shall be from amongst the Minority communities.

Functions of the Commission

The Commission shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:
a) To evaluate the progress of the development of Minorities under the Union and States;
b) To monitor the working of the safeguards provided in the Constitution and in laws enacted by Parliament and the State Legislatures;

c) To make recommendations for the effective implementation of safeguards for the protection of the interests of Minorities by the Central Government or the State

Governments;
d) To look into specific complaints regarding deprivation of rights and safeguards of the Minorities and take up such matters with the appropriate authorities;

e) To cause studies to be undertaken into problems arising out of any discrimination against Minorities and recommend measures for their removal;

f) To conduct studies, research and analysis on the issues relating to socio-economic and educational development of Minorities;

g) To suggest appropriate measures in respect of any Minority to be undertaken by the Central Government or the State Governments;

h) To make periodical or special reports to the Central Government on any matter pertaining to Minorities and in particular the difficulties confronted by them; and
i) any other matter which may be referred to it by the Central Government.

Safeguards: Safeguards are of two types  

1. Those provided in the Constitution 
2. Those arrived at by consensus by Central and State Governments through series of meetings
3. The Combined Scheme

Constitutuional Provisions

• Article 29
• Article 30
• Article 347
• Article 350 
• Article 350A 

 Art. 29.  Protection of interests of minorities: 

1. Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof  having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.
2. No citizen shall be denied admission into any educational institution maintained by the State or receiving aid out of State funds on grounds only of religion, race, caste, language or any of them.

Art. 30. Right of minorities to establish and administer educational institutions 

(1) All minorities, whether based on religion or language, shall have the right   to   establish and   administer educational institutions of their choice.

 (1A) In making any law providing for the compulsory acquisition of any property of an educational institution established and administered by a minority, referred to in clause (1), the State shall ensure that the amount fixed by or determined under such law for the acquisition of such property is such as would not restrict or abrogate the right guaranteed under that clause.

(2) The State shall not, in granting aid to educational institutions, discriminate against any educational institution on the ground that it is under the management of a minority, whether based on religion or language.

Art. 347. Special provision relating to language spoken by a section of the population of a State:

On a demand being made in that behalf the President may, if he is satisfied that a substantial proportion of the population of a State desire the use of any language spoken by them to be recognized by that State, direct that such language shall also be officially recognized throughout that State or any part thereof for such purpose as he may specify.

Art. 350. Language to be used in representations for redress of grievances:

Every person shall be entitled to submit a representation for the redressal of any grievance to any officer or authority of the Union or a State in any of the languages used in the Union or in the State, as the case may be

Art. 350. Facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at primary stage

It shall be the endeavour of every State and of every local authority within the State to provide adequate facilities for instruction in the mother-tongue at the primary stage of education to children belonging to linguistic minority groups; and the President may issue such directions to any State as he considers necessary or proper for securing the provision of such facilities.

Consenual Safegaurds

These have been agreed to by the Central and the State Governments through series of meetings of Chief Ministers of all the states.

• Instruction through minority languages at the Secondary stage of education;
• Translation and publication of important rules, regulations, notices, etc., into all languages, which are spoken by at least 15% of the total population at district or sub-district level;
• No insistence upon knowledge of State’s Official Language at the time of recruitment. Test of proficiency in the State’s Official Language to be held before  completion of probation

Combined Scheme of Safeguards:

The salient features of the Scheme, as at present, are :

1.      Translation and publication of important rules, regulations, notices, etc., into all languages, which are spoken by at least 15% of the total population at district or sub-district level;

2.      Declaration of minority languages as second official language in districts where persons speaking such languages constitute 60% or more of the population;  

3.      Receipt of, and reply to, representations in minority languages; scheme of safeguards

4.      Instruction through mother tongues/ minority languages at the Primary stage of education;

5.      Instruction through minority languages at the Secondary stage of education;

6.      Advance registration of linguistic preference of linguistic minority pupils, and inter-school adjustments;

7.      Provision for text books and teachers in minority languages; scheme of safeguards

8.      Implementation of  Three-language Formula;

9.      No insistence upon  knowledge of State’s Official Language at the time of recruitment. Test of proficiency in the State’s Official Language to be held before  completion of probation

10.  Issue of  Pamphlets in minority languages detailing safeguards available to linguistic minorities;

11.  Setting up of proper  machinery  at the State and district levels.

Organisation

• The office of National Commissioner Linguistic Minorities was set up in 1957 with headquarters at Allahabad.
• It has three regional offices
  • Belgaum (Karnataka)
  • Chennai (Tamil Nadu)
  • Kolkata (West Bengal)
• Each is headed by an Assistant Commissioner.
• The Commissioner is assisted at headquarters by Deputy Commissioner and an Assistant Commissioner.
• The office maintains liaison with the State Governments and Union Territories Administrations through nodal officers appointed by the State Government.
• The Commissioner prepares annual reports on the basis of feedback from

1. State Government replies to questionnaire sent by the Commissioner.

2. Information received from other organizations.

3. Information gathered during visits to States.

4. Reports published by various Government, and non Governmental organizations.

5. Books and articles published by scholars.

The current Chairperson is Naseem Ahmad.

National Commission for Women

• The National Commission for Women was set up as a statutory body in January 1992 under the National Commission for Women Act, 1990 to review the Constitutional and Legal safeguards for the women.
• Recommend remedial Legislative measures, facilitate redressal of the grievances and advise the Government on all policy matters affecting the women.
• The first Commission was constituted on 31^st January 1992 with Mrs. Jayanti Patnaik as the Chairperson.
• The current Chairperson is LALITHA KUMARAMANGALAM.

Composition
The Commission shall consist of:

• A Chairperson to be nominated by the Central Government.
• Five members - to be nominated by the Central Government from amongst the persons of ability, integrity and standing - and have the experience in various fields, like law or legislation, trade unionism, management of industry potential of women, women's voluntary organization, administration, economic
• development, health, education or social welfare.
• A Member Secretary - to be nominated by the Central Government.

The member Secretary should be either

• An expert in the field of management, organisation structure or social movement or
• An officer who is a member of a Civil Services of the Union or of an All India Service with appropriate experience.
• The Act has bestowed the Commission with wide ranging powers and functions. It also vests the Commission with the power of a Civil Court.

Functions
The Commission shall perform all or any of the following functions, namely:
a) Investigate and examine all the matters relating to the safeguards provided for the women under the Constitution and other laws;

1. Present to the Central Government, annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards;
   c) Make in such reports/recommendations for the effective implementation of those safeguards for improving the conditions of the women by the Union or any State;
   d) Review, from time to time, the existing provisions of the Constitution and other laws affecting the women and recommend amendments thereof so as to suggest remedial legislative measures to meet any lacunae, inadequacies or shortcomings in such legislations;
2. e) Take up cases of violation of the provisions of the Constitution and of other laws relating to the women with the appropriate authorities;

f) Look into complaints and take suo-moto notice of the matters relating to:

• deprivation of the women's rights;
• non-implementation of the laws enacted to provide protection to the women and also to achieve the objective of equality and development;
• non-compliance of the policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships and ensuring welfare and providing relief to the women, and take up the issues arising out of such matters with appropriate authorities;

g) Call for special studies or investigations into specific problems or situations arising out of the discrimination and atrocities against the women and identify the constraints so as to recommend strategies for their removal;

h) Undertake the promotional and educational research so as to suggest ways of ensuring due representation of the women in all spheres and identify factors responsible for impeding the support services and technologies for reducing drudgery and occupational health hazards and for increasing their productivity;

i) Evaluate the progress of the development of women under the Union and any State;
j) Inspect or cause to inspect a jail, remand home, women's institution or other places of custody where the women are kept as prisoners or otherwise and take up with the concerned authorities for remedial action, if found necessary;

k) Fund litigations involving the issues affecting a large body of the women;
l) Make periodical reports to the Government on any matter pertaining to the women and in particular various difficulties under which women toil;

m) Any other matter which may be referred to it by the Central Government.

NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) of India is an autonomous public body constituted on 12 October 1993 under the Protection of Human Rights Ordinance of 28 September 1993. It was given a statutory basis by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 (TPHRA). The NHRC is the national human rights institution, responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights, defined by the Act as "rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants".

"Human Rights" means the rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of the individual guaranteed by the constitution or embodied in the International covenants and enforceable by courts in India. "Commission" means the National Human Rights Commission constituted under section of All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights known as Human rights, as commonly understood, are the rights that every human being is entitled to enjoy freely irrespective of his religion, race, caste, sex and nationality, etc. (Jagdish chand, 2007) In Declaration of Independence acknowledged the fundamental human rights. Human right means different thing to different people. Human Rights are not static. New rights are recognized and enforced from time to time. Only persons fully conversant with the latest development about the expanding horizons of Human Rights can promote their awareness better than others.

Background

The international human rights movement was strengthened when the United Nations General Assembly adopted of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 December 1948. Drafted as ‘a common standard of achievement for all peoples and nations', the Declaration for the first time in human history, outlined basic civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights that all human beings should enjoy.

The UDHR, together with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, form the International Bill of Human Rights.

Functions

TPHRA mandates the NHRC to perform the following functions:

• proactively or reactively inquire into violations of human rights or negligence in the prevention of such violation by a public servant
• by leave of the court, to intervene in court proceeding relating to human rights
• to visit any jail or other institution under the control of the State Government, where persons are detained or lodged for purposes of treatment, reformation or protection, for the study of the living conditions of the inmates and make recommendations
• review the safeguards provided by or under the Constitution or any law for the time being in force for the protection of human rights and recommend measures for their effective implementation
• review the factors, including acts of terrorism that inhibit the enjoyment of human rights and recommend appropriate remedial measures
• to study treaties and other international instruments on human rights and make recommendations for their effective implementation
• undertake and promote research in the field of human rights
• engage in human rights education among various sections of society and promote awareness of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, the media, seminars and other available means
• encourage the efforts of NGOs and institutions working in the field of human rights
• such other function as it may consider it necessary for the protection of human rights.

Composition

The NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) consists of:

• A Chairperson, retired Chief Justice of India
• One Member who is, or has been, a Judge of the Supreme Court of India
• One Member who is, or has been, the Chief Justice of a High Court
• Two Members to be appointed from among persons having knowledge of, or practical experience in, matters relating to human rights
• In addition, the Chairpersons of four National Commissions of ( 1.Minorities 2.SC 3.ST 4.Women) serve as ex officio members.

The current (acting) chairperson of the NHRC is Justice Cyriac Joseph

STATE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION

A State Government may constitute a body known as the Human Rights Commission of that State to exercise the powers conferred upon, and to perform the functions assigned to, a State Commission. At present, 23 states have constituted SHRC.