Structure, Organisation, and Functioning of Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-Judicial Bodies in Himachal Pradesh - HPAS Mains

STATUTORY BODIES

Statutory bodies are non-constitutional bodies as they are not mentioned in the constitution. They are constituted by the act of parliament and state legislation. They are called ‘statutory’ since statutes are the laws made by the parliament or the state legislation and they derive their power from those statutes, hence called statutory bodies.

Various statutory bodies of state govt are as follows:

STATUTORY BODIES IN HIMACHAL PRADESH	ACT
HP STATE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION	Protection of human rights act, 1993
HP STATE COMMISSION FOR BACKWARD CLASSES	Notification no.Kalyan-ch(10)-6/90-iii, 1993
HP STATE COMMIOSSION FOR WOMEN	H.P. State Commission for Women Act, 1996
HP STATE CONSUMER DISPUTE REDRESSAL COMMISSION	Consumer Protection Act, 1986
HP STATE INFORMATION COMMISSION	Right to Information Act, 2005

H.P. STATE HUMAN RIGHT COMMISSION

The State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) is a watchdog of human rights in the state. It is a statutory body established under the Protection of human rights act, 1993. It’s an independent multimember body that investigates in the matter of human rights violation cases.

COMPOSITION:

Being a multi-member body, it consists of a chairperson and two members. The chairperson should be retired Chief Justice of High Court and members should be serving or retired judges of the High Court or a district court in the state with a maximum of seven years experience. The chairperson and members are appointed by the governor on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the CM as its head, the speaker of a legislative assembly, the state home minister, and the leader of opposition in the legislative assembly.

POWER:

Inquiry in the cases of human rights violation either by petition or suo-moto.
Intervene in any judicial proceeding dealing with human rights violation.
Visits jail and other centers under state govt
Acts as a civil court during investigation
Having its own investigation staff
Independence of the body is ensured by appointment and tenure of 3years and 70 years whichever is early.

However, being the apex body to address issues of human rights violation, it is dealing with various structural and functional issues which are limiting it to safeguard the human rights of the citizens.

LIMITATIONS:

Vague appointments of the members
Recommendations are not binding, only advisory body.
Do not have penalizing power in case of proven violation of human rights
Shortage of staff leads to the pendency of cases.
Inadequacy of the funds
Lack of transparency and gender diversity in its composition.
Exclusion of; private parties, cases of human rights violation by armed forces etc.
Time limit of one year, beyond which the cases of human rights violations cases cannot be addressed by the body.
Pendency of cases, overburden of cases due to increasing conscious to human rights.
Political interference; the body is considered as the post-retirement heaven for judicial and bureaucrats with allegiance to the govt.

H.P. STATE COMMISSION FOR BACKWARD CLASSES

In pursuance to the judgment and directions contained in the case “Ind & others Vs. Union of India” in 1992, the H.P. state commission for backward classes was constituted. The function of the body is derived from Article 16(4) of the Indian constitution for the inclusion of any backward class of citizens for the purpose of representation in the state services.

FUNCTIONS:

Requests for the inclusion of any class of citizen as a Backward Class in the list prepared by the state govt for the purpose of making reservations in services.
The commission hears complaints of over-inclusion or under-inclusion o non-inclusion of any backward class

H.P. STATE INFORMATION COMMISSION

HP state information commission is a statutory body being established under the Right to information act, 2005. The commission started functioning with effect from 1^st March 2006 with its headquarter at Shimla. The commission is a high-powered independent body that looks into the complaints made to it and decides the appeals. It overlooks the complaints and appeals pertaining to offices, financial institutions, PSU’s, etc.

COMPOSITION: It consists of a chief information commissioner and not more than ten state information commissioners, appointed by the governor on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the CM as chairperson, the leader of opposition in the legislative assembly and a state cabinet minister nominated by the CM. They should be persons of eminence in the public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, administration and governance. They should not be an MP or MLA’s and should not hold any other office of profit.

TENURE and REMOVAL: The state chief information commissioner and a state information commissioner hold office for a term of 5 years until they attain the age of 65 years, whichever is earlier. They are not eligible for reappointment. The governor can remove the state chief information or any state information commissioner on the grounds of proved misbehavior or incapacity.

POWER AND FUNCTION:

It is the duty of the commission to receive and inquire into a complaint from any person ( whose information has been refused or not received a response or thinks fees charged is unreasonable or thinks given information is incomplete)
The commission has suo-moto power to investigate into matters on reasonable grounds.
Has the power of civil courts.
Inquire into the complaints under RTI Act.
Submits annual report to the govt.

The state information commission has a crucial role in guaranteeing public transparency and govt’s accountability.

H.P. STATE COMMISSION FOR WOMEN

The HP state commission for women was constituted under State Commission for women act, 1996. The commission comprised of one chairperson and 3-4 nominated members amongst the educationalist, social workers, NGOs, environmentalists, jurists etc.

AIM and OBJECTIVES:

Prevention of harassment to women.
Eradication of dowry system.
Protection of constitutional rights of women.
Rehabilitation of depressed women.
Bringing social, legal, constitutional, health, livelihood awareness amongst the women.
Submission of the recommendation to the state govt for the upliftment of the women. (source: State commission for women HP)

REGULATORY BODIES

State govt constitutes these bodies in order to set standards in the specific field and then ensures the enforcement of those standards. The main functions of such bodies are to set rules and regulations, review and assessment, license and inspection, and set a framework for corrective action. Some example of regulatory bodies in HP state is State pollution control board, HP private educational institutional regulatory commission, HP real estate regulatory authority etc.

HP STATE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD is a nodal agency in the administrative structure of the state govt for the planning, promotion, coordination, and overseeing the implementation of environmental programs. The principal activities undertaken by the HP state pollution control board consist of prevention and control of pollution, protection of the environment in the framework of the following legislations:

Water (prevention and control of pollution) act, 1974
Water (prevention and control of pollution) cess act, 1977
Air (prevention and control of pollution) act, 1981
Environment (protection) act, 1986

HP PRIVATE EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS REGULATORY COMMISSION

HP private educational institutions regulatory omission has been established by the govt of HP under sec3 of the HP pvt. Educational institutions (regulatory commission) act, 2010 for the purpose of promoting a regulatory mechanism in the state and for working as an interface between the state govt and central regulatory body. This regulatory commission performs following functions:

Ensure the standard of admission, teaching, examinations, research, extension programs, qualified teachers, infrastructure, etc.
Ensure that the admission in the Pvt. Educational institutions are based on merit achieved in the national or state common entrance test or any other test notified by the state.
Develop an appropriate mechanism for receipt and redressal of grievances of students and parents.
The commission may conduct an inspection of Pvt. Educational institutions as and when required.
The commission shall have the power to monitor and regulate fees in the pvt. Educational institutions.

HP REAL ESTATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY

Under the real estate regulatory authority act, 2016 it establishes REAL ESTATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY for regulation and promotion of the real estate sector and to ensure sale of plots, apartments or building or the sale of real estate projects in an efficient and transparent manner. The body performs the following functions:

Protect the interest of consumers in the real estate sector
Establish an adjudicating mechanism for the speedy dispute redressal
Establish the appellate tribunal to hear appeals from the decision, directions or orders of the real estate regulatory authority.
It denies any advertisement, acceptance of advance or deposits without registering the project with the authority.

QUASI-JUDICIAL BODY

These are non-constitutional, non-judicial bodies like commission or tribunals which have some powers of the judiciary and therefore can interpret law. They are different from judicial bodies in that their field is limited compared to the courts. Some e.g. of quasi-judicial bodies in the state are: HP State Human Right Commission, HP state information commission, HP state commission for women, HP state administrative tribunal etc.

FUNCTIONS

REDUCES BURDEN: lessen the burden on courts, speedy justice. E.g. HP State Human Rights Commission.
EXPERTISE: powers are usually limited to a particular area of expertise. E.g. justice delivery, environmental problems, consumer’s law etc.
SUO-MOTO: e.g. Hp state human right commission take suo-moto action before the registration of any petition.
AUTONOMY: autonomy in taking impartial decisions.
PUBLIC AWARENESS: time to time actions of such bodies keep people aware of any injustice happening and makes govt more accountable with its pro-active approach.

Structure, Organisation, and Functioning of Statutory, Regulatory and various Quasi-Judicial Bodies in Himachal Pradesh – HPAS Mains

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