Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952
Recently The West Bengal government had, in July 2021, set up a Commission of Inquiry (Lokur Commission), under the 1952 Act, to look into the alleged surveillance of phones using the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-intelligence company NSO Group.
This commission will investigate the alleged violation of privacy of various persons.
Power to constitute such commissions:
- Although such ‘Commissions of Inquiry’ can be constituted by both the Central and State Governments, but the State Government can constitute ‘Commissions of Inquiry’ only on those subjects on which it is empowered to make laws.
- If a Commission is constituted earlier by the Central Government on any subject, the State Government cannot constitute another parallel Commission of Inquiry on the same subject without the approval of the Central Government.
Powers of ‘Inquiry Commission’:
- The Commission constituted by the Government under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952, shall have the same powers as a ‘Civil Court’ during the trial of a case under the ‘Code of Civil Procedure’, 1908.
- The Commission of Inquiry may order the delivery of any public record or copy thereof from any court or office.
What subjects can be investigated by the commission?
- A Commission constituted by the Central Government may inquire into any matter relating to any entry included in List-I (Union List) or List-II (State List) or List-III (Concurrent List) in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution.
- Whereas, commissions set up by the State Governments can inquire into matters relating to entries included in List-II or List-III of the ‘Seventh Schedule’.
Pegasus ‘Commission of Inquiry’ case is related to which list?
- The entries ‘Public Order’ and ‘Police’ have been cited by the Government of West Bengal to constitute the ‘Commission of Inquiry’. Although, these subjects come under the ‘State List’ of the Seventh Schedule, yet an argument can be made that the subject matter of ‘Investigation’ in the said case mainly comes under the Central List.
- In addition, post and telegraph, telephone, wireless, broadcasting and other means of communication pertain to entry 31 of the Union List.
Importance of this type of inquiry commission report:
- The findings of such commissions are usually presented to the Legislative Assembly or Parliament, depending on who constitutes the commission.
- The government is not bound to make the report of the commission public. And although the findings of the Commission are not binding on the executive, these findings may be relied upon as evidence by the courts.
Source – The Hindu
