Govt constitutes 23rd Law Commission

The government has notified the constitution of the 23rd Law Commission for three years with a provision to appoint serving Supreme Court and high court judges as its chairperson and membersThe panel advises the government on complex legal issues Once it is constituted the government initiates the process of appointing its chief and membersThe term of the 22nd Law Commission ended on August 31 and the new panel has been constituted with effect from September 1 according to a law ministry order issued late MondayThough the notification relating to the constitution of the 21st and 22nd law commissions issued in September 2015 and February 2020 respectively had provisions for appointing serving SC and HC judges as chairpersons and members in the recent past either retired top court judges or former chief justices of high courts have headed the bodyOn August 31 the term of the 22nd Law Commission which was without a chairperson for the past few months ended with its key report on the Uniform Civil Code UCC still in the worksThe report prepared by the law panel on simultaneous elections is ready and pending submission to the law ministryPeople aware of the procedure noted that the report cannot be submitted in the absence of a chairpersonJustice retd Ritu Raj Awasthi who headed the 22nd law panel was appointed a member of the anticorruption watchdog Lokpal a few months agoA highlevel committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind submitted a report on One Nation One Election in MarchLast year the 22nd Commission had initiated fresh consultations on the UCCAfter obtaining suggestions from a crosssection of society it was in the process of preparing a draft report when Justice Awasthi was appointed to the LokpalAccording to the order the panel will have a fulltime chairperson and four fulltime members including a membersecretaryThe secretary of the Department of Legal Affairs and the secretary of the Legislative Department will be its exofficio members There cannot be more than five parttime members according to the orderIt said the chairpersonmembers who are serving judges of the Supreme CourtHigh Court shall perform their functions on a wholetime basis up to the date of retirement from the Supreme CourtHigh Court or expiry of the term of the Commission whichever be earlierThe time spent by them in the performance of such functions as chairperson or member of the Commission will be treated as actual serviceThe order noted that in case other category of persons are appointed as chairperson or fulltime members the chairperson will be entitled a pay of Rs 250 lakh fixed per month In case of members a pay of Rs 225 lakh fixed per month will be admissibleIn the case of a retired person including retired judges the pay including pension or pension equivalent to the retirement benefits not exceeding Rs 250 lakh or Rs 225 lakh per month as the case may be will be admissibleThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever