Major Non-constitutional Bodies in India

In India, when the government is disposing its governing functions, it will be carried out through different bodies. These bodies can be broadly classified into two categories one is constitutional bodies and other is statutory bodies. Constitutional bodies are the bodies which are established through the constitutional provisions whereas the statutory bodies are bodies which are established through the statutes (legislation of the parliament or by the legislature). The Non constitutional bodies in India mainly include all the statutory bodies. Apart from the constitutional bodies the non-constitutional bodies in India will be plenty in number because of the timely and needy establishment of them by the parliament and state legislatures. Here through this blog, we discuss the major non constitutional bodies in India.

Read About the Important Articles of Indian Constitution

NITI Ayog

On the 13th August 2014 the Modi Government scrapped the 65-year-old Planning Commission of India and replaced a new body called NITI Ayog (National Institution for Transforming India). Accordingly, 1st January 2015 NITI Ayog was established as a successor to the planning commission. It is not created by the constitution nor by an act of parliament. Hence, it’s a non-constitutional body of India.

Composition and Members: Chairperson- Prime Minister, Governing Council- Consists of Chief minister of all states and UTs having legislatures and Lt colonel of UTs, Regional Council, Special Invitees, Full Time Organizational Framework- consists of a vice chairperson, Full Time members, Part time members, Ex Officio members, Chief executive officer, secretariat.

Powers and Functions: The various functions performed by the NITI Ayog can be broadly classified into four main heads- Design Policy and Program Framework, Foster Cooperative Federalism, Monitoring and Evaluation, Think Tank and Knowledge and Innovation Hub.

Enroll Entri App for More General Awareness Updates 

National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commission

Even though both of them are two different non constitutional bodies in India they perform the same set of duties and functions in the centre and state respectively. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) were established by the Protection of Human Rights Act 1993 enacted by the parliament of India.

Composition and Members: For NHRC- A chairperson (Retired chief justice of India or a judge of Supreme court) and five members (1 serving or retired judge of supreme court. 1 serving or retired chief justice of the High court. 3 high expertise and practical knowledge persons). For SHRC- A Chairperson (Retired Chief justice or Judge of High Court) and Two members (1 District Judge in the state with 7 years of experience and 1 practical knowledge person)

Powers and Functions: It inquires into or intervenes into any proceedings involving the violation of the human rights and takes Suo moto case on that. To spread human rights literacy and promote NGOs working for Human Rights protection.

Enroll Entri App for More General Awareness Updates 

Central Information Commission and State Information Commission

Even though both of them are two different non constitutional bodies in India they perform the same set of duties and functions in centre and state respectively. Both of them are constituted upon the act passed by the parliament in 2005 namely The Right to Information Act,2005.

Composition and Members: The Central Information commission consists of a Chief Information Officer and not more than ten members appointed by the President on recommendation of a committee consisting of Prime minister as chairperson, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a union cabinet minister appointed by the prime minister.

The State Information commission consists of a Chief Information Officer and not more than ten members appointed by the Governor on recommendation of a committee consisting of chief minister as chairperson, leader of the opposition and a state cabinet minister appointed by the chief minister.

Powers and Functions: It is the duty of the commission to receive and inquire about complaints regarding information requests. Suo Moto Powers. Powers of a civil court in those inquiries.

Central Vigilance Commission

The central vigilance commission (CVC) is the main agency of the central government to prevent corruption at the central government. It was established in 1964 by the recommendation of the Santhanam committee on prevention of corruption (1962-1964).

Enroll Entri App for More General Awareness Updates 

Composition and Members: The Central Vigilance Commission consists of a Chief Vigilance Officer and not more than two vigilance commissioners appointed by the President on recommendation of a committee consisting of Prime minister as the head, leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha and a union minister of home affairs.

Powers and Functions: There is a list of functions entrusted but mainly to inquire or to investigate on the reference of the central government where it is alleged that a public servant has done corruption.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is established by a resolution by the ministry of home affairs and then transferred to the ministry of personnel (Department of personnel and training). It was established by the recommendation of the Santhanam committee on prevention of corruption (1962-1964).

Composition and Members: The CBI is headed by a director. He is assisted by a special director or an additional director. In addition to that it has various personnel as per the ranks of the police department. The CBI has the following 7 divisions – Anti-Corruption Division, Economic offences division, special crimes divisions, policy and coordination division, administrative division, directorate of prosecution, central forensic science laboratory.

Powers and Functions: To carry out investigation on matters adhering into those respective divisions only some of them are referred by the state government or directed by the supreme/high court.

Enroll Entri App for More General Awareness Updates 

National Investigation Agency (NIA)

The National Investigation agency (NIA) was constituted in 2009 by the National Investigation Agency Act 2008 enacted by the parliament. It is the central counter terrorism law enforcement agency in the country. It is constituted after the Mumbai Terror attacks, popularly known as the 26/11 incident.

Composition and Members: The NIA is headed by a Director-General appointed by the central government. His powers and functions are similar to the director general of police in respect of the police force in the state.

Powers and Functions: To investigate and prosecute offences in respect of the acts specified in the schedule of the NIA Act.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)

By understanding the national priority of disaster management after the earthquake of 2001 in Gujarat and tsunami of 2004 the Parliament enacted the Disaster Management Act 2005. The act provided for the creation of the National Disaster Management Authority.

Composition and Members: Consists of a Chairperson and other members not more than 9. The prime Minister is the Ex Officio chairperson and other members are nominated by the chairperson. From one of the chairpersons a vice chairperson is selected. The vice chairperson has the status of a cabinet minister and others have the status of the minister of the state.

Powers and Functions: To lay down policies framework and guidelines relating to disaster management. Provide funds and allocation. Cope up with the disaster happening in the country.

Enroll Entri App for More General Awareness Updates 

Conclusion.

These are the major non constitutional bodies in India but it does not include all the non-constitutional bodies. In every state and in parliament, according to the different needs and circumstances more and more statutory bodies are created and that all will go to the ambit of non-constitutional bodies in India. For competitive exams you need to know only the major non constitutional bodies in India as said above. Enroll Entri for more updates. Keep studying, keep winning!