Report of the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws - Volume 1.pdf

8/14/2019 Report of the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws - Volume 1.pdf

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REPORTOFTIIE COMMISSION

ONREVIEW OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAWS

VOLUME I

DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISl RATIVE REFORMSAND PUBUC GRIEVANCES

. MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBPC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIASEPI EMBER 1998


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IjI ERR T1I Page No.1 Reference For

Table ofContents A p p e ~ d i x - A - 3 ) 1245 Para 16.4.2) 700 annual 70 Annual 1ge60 Para 5) Those now Those not

1 73 S.No.2) Fancy Farcy74 S.No.34) 1857 186774 S.No.38) 1959 195074 S.No.56) 1894 1898 677 S.No.110) 1945 195477 S.No.111) Provines Provinces 777 S.No.121) 1989 19808 S.No.10) GeolV Geo. VI 1361 S.No.4) 386 3SS2 S.No.19) 193 1932 5S3 S.No.54) or r37 S.No.25) Extension Administration 45as S.No.1) Letter LetterS9 S.No.22) 1973 1974 .509 S.No.24) 1963 195693 S.No.83) Fidelit Fidelity 51


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TABLE O CONTENTS

Volume I

Subject Page

Letter of Chairman

1 Introduction 12 Approach 6

3 The overview o steps taken by 7Different Ministriesl Departments

4 Harmony Integration 13

5 Changes in Rules Procedures 15

6 Recommendations for Repeall 45Amendments o Laws Regulations

7 Conclusion 50

8 Summary o Recommendations 51


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NNEXURESf PPENDlCES

1. Annexure 1 OM constituting the Commission on Review of 61Administrative Laws and extending its term.2. Annexure 2 Paper of Dr. P SA Sundaram on Regulatory 64eform for Responsive Administration in India.3. Appendix-A Central Laws recommended for repeal. 72

Appendix-A-1 166 Central Acts (including 11 Pre-Nationalisation 73cts, and 20 Validation Acts).Appendix-A-2 315 ,Amendment Acts,

\ Appendix-A-3 11 British Statues still in force. 80Appendix-A-4 17 War-time permanent Ordinances. 81Appendix-A-5 114 Central Acts relating to State subjects 82

for repeal by State Governments,Appendix-A-6 700 (approximately) Appropriation Acts passed by

I Parliament for repeal by Central Government.\, 4. Appendix-B Reorganisation Acts. 86r

5. Appendix-C Laws Applicable to High Courts. 886. Appendix-D Personal Laws. 897. Appendix-E List of Central Acts considered of particular 90

relevance to the terms of reference of theommission.


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P. C. ain lAS (Retd.)Chairman

Dear Shri Prabhat Kumar,

Commission on Review ofAdministrative LawsDated September 30,1998

I have great pleasure in forwarding herewith the Report (in two Volumes) of theCommission on Review of Administrative Laws.2. The short time available to the Commission, the constraints under which itfunctioned and to which a reference in detail has been made in the Report and theformidable nature of the task assigned to it hardly need to be emphasised here3. In the absence of an universally accepted definition of the term AdministrativeLaws , the Commission has considered nearly all those Central laws which wereconsidered by various Ministries/Departments for purposes of review, repeal andamendments, as well as those which were mentioned by the user groups and werealso relevant to our terms of reference, particularly, (b) and (c).4. There is a perception among many people that despite a fairly extensive Stateintervention and a regulatory regime in our country there is no real deterrence andeffective enforcement for the benefit of society in general and the average citizen inparticular. Be that as it may it can hardly be disputed that multiplicity and complexityoflaws, rules, regulations and procedures and lack of adequate information about these,is one of the major reasons for their misu.se by officers and staff, particularly at thecutting-edge level, resulting in delays, harassment and corruption on a massive scale.The cost of all these consequences to the society.and to the country's growth isenormous. Thus any further delay in bringing about adequate reforms in such aregulatory regime can be t our own peril. The Commission has been able to recommendin its Report repeal of over 1300 Central laws out of a total of approximately 2500 suchlaws.5. Equally important, if not more, is the urgent need to bring about a radical changein the mindset of administration at almost all levels. Officers are not accessible topeople for whom they exist. Grievance redressal mechanism exists only on paper.Complaints are either not received or are not acted upon. Reply to the complaints is an


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exception rather than the rule, particularly in the public sector banks, organisationsproviding public utilities, e.g. electricity, water, street lighting, sanitation, sewerage,telephones etc. Intervention of an MP/MLAlMLC or publication of the complaint in animportant newspaper, or payment of speed money do help. The helplessness of anaverage citizen is to be objectively assessed to be believed. A system of open house'to be held on fixed dates, announced in advance, periodically' at d i s ~ r i c t tahsil andblock levels might meet, to a considerable extent, the requirement of motivating thefunctionaries at the cutting-edge level towards their duty to the publ ic and in the directionof taking concrete steps for trying to ensure a res'ponsive administration. If however,motivation and orientation do not bring about the desired improvement in the mindsets,there is no better alternative than to strictly enforce individual accountability for delaysand harassment within specif ied time frames without any compunction.6. One more aspect needs to be highlighted. It is often said that as economicreforms proceed towards more liberalisation and globalisation, ensuing competitionwould take care of the problems of deficiency in prodUcts and services. Such aperception obviously has its limitations in the conditions' of our country. Lower middleclass-what to say of poor people, cannot afford to change their consumer durables,such as televisions, refrigerators, washing machines, air-conditioners, generating sets,two and four wheelers, etc. on coming to know that better products have since come inthe market, or that there are manufacturers or suppliers who provide better after-salesservice. For majority of people these are virtually lifetime purchases. Thus it is imperativethat manufacturers and business in their own long-term interests adopt standards andpractices which are ethical, and that if they do not do it they are organisationally madeto set up, at their own cost, voluntary disputes settlement mechanisms. Professionalassociations and bodies should not work only in the interest of their members, but alsodischarge their duties towards the society in general and the aggrieved persons inparticular.7. Before concluding, I must place on record my personal gratitude towards mycolleagues in the Commission. Mr. H. D. Shourie, whom I call a young man of 87 years,has greatly helped the Commission with his insight into the problems of consumersand his personal experience in the area of public interest litigation. Mr. S. Ramaiah hasmade highly valuable contribution to the task of cleansing the statute book. Dr. P SASundaram our Member Convenor, is a man of academic pursuits with strong commitmentto administrative reforms. He has been a driving force for the Commission to be able todo what it has done in this short period.


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8 I would also like to place on record my personal appreciation of the excellentsupport provided to the Commission by the Secretariat of the Dept . of AdministrativeReforms & Public Grievances led by Shri Nikhilesh Jha, Director and all his colleagues.

With warm regards,

Shri Prabhat Kumar,Cabinet Secretary,Govt. of India,New Delhi.

Yours Sincerely,Sd/=

(P.C. Jain


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Report of the Commission on Review ofAdministrative Laws

INTRODU TIONA Commission on Review of Administrative Laws was set up with the approval

ofthe Prime Minister on 8 May, 1998, vide Office Memorandum No. K-11022/19/98-Pissued by the Department ofAdministrative Reforms and Public Grievances. Followingis the composition of the Commission:

1 ) Shri p,C, Jain, Retired Secretary to the Governmentof India

(2) Shri H.D, Shourie, Director, Common Cause(3) Shri S. Ramaiah, Retired Legislative Secretary,

Government of India(4) Dr. P,SA Sundaram, Additional Secretary

ChairmanMemberMember

(AR T), Department of Administrative ReformsPublic Grievances Member Convenor

2. The terms of reference of the Commission were as follows:-a) To undertake an overview of steps taken by different Ministries/Departments

for the review of administrative laws, regulations and procedures administeredby them, and the follow-up steps thereafter, for repeal and amendment.

b) To identify, in consultation with MinistriesiDepartments and client groups,proposals for amendments to existing laws, regulations and procedures,where these are in the nature of law common to more than one department,or where they have a bearing on the effective working of more than oneMinistry/Department and State Governments, or where a collectivity of lawsimpact on the performance of an economic or social sector, or where theyhave a bearing on industry and trade.

c) To examine, in the case of selected areas like environment, industry, tradeand cOmmerce, housing and real estate, specific changes in existing rulesand procedures so as to make them objective, transparent and predictable.

d) To make, on the basis of this exercise, recommendations for repeal/amendments of laws, regulations and procedures, legislative process, etc.

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Documents

Report of the Commission on Review of Administrative Laws - Volume 1.pdf