230th REPORT OF THE LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA
HLCD PROJECT
YASH VARDHAN GUPTA, 62
01/01/2021
SUBMITTED TO- MR. SYED IQBAL AHMED
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT.................................................................................................................................3
DECLARATION..............................................................................................................................................4
LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA.......................................................................................................................5
230TH REPORT OF THE LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA...................................................................................9
ANALYSIS AND IMPLIMENTATIONS...........................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................19
BIBLIOGRAPHY...........................................................................................................................................20
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to sincerely thank Mr. Syed Iqbal Ahmed for all the help he has
provided to me in making this project on such an interesting topic, and supporting
me at each stage of the same. It is because of the knowledge he has imparted, that I
am able to approach the topic differently in an unconventional manner, and hence
made it an inquisitorial and remarkable learning
Thank You
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the work submitted in the following research project on the
topic “230th Report of the Law Commission” submitted as an academic project for
the course b.a l.l.b (hons.), at the National Law University, Delhi is my own work.
The work has been carried out under the supervision of the extremely helpful
guidance of Mr. Syed Iqbal Ahmed. I have, to the best of my knowledge,
acknowledged all sources and have cited them diligently as well. To the best of my
understanding, the project is free from any plagiarism issues.
Yash Vardhan Gupta
01/01/2021
CHAPTER 1
LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA
INTRODUCTION
The Law Commission, which is an executive body, is constituted by the
government of India, and it conducts occasional revision or suggests ameliorations
in the structure and substance of law. It prompts the government on lawful issues,
conducts researches and recommends changes in the law or to bring new measures
for smoother and more viable administration of law. The Law Commission
proposes changes in legislations and statutes, in order to accomplish the principles
set out in the Constitution. It additionally suggests corrections, revisions or
removal of Central laws and establishments which, according to it, are erroneous
and outmoded. It likewise attempts for changes in the whole justice system. The
law commission of India is an executive body which is established by the
government for a fixed tenure and acts as an advisory body to the Law Ministry.
HISTORY AND THE EARLY BEGINNINGS
The Law Commission is a tradition of India's provincial past. In 1833, the British
rulers brought together the three administrations they had been administering for
long and intended to implement the English common law in the entire of what they
called "British India". The first Law Commission of India was constituted in 1834,
under the chairmanship of lord macauley. The codification of the IPC, the CRPC
and a couple of other issues was recommended by the first law commission. After
this the Britishers constituted other law commissions to translate their plan into
action. The implementations of the recommendations of these bodies changed
India into a common law country. After the fourth commission submitted its
recommendations towards the end of nineteenth century, the rulers, detecting the
starting of an uprising for home rule, did not proceeded with further law
commissions
After eight years of Independence, the Government of India chose to resuscitate
the British tradition of constituting law commissions to study, explore and research
on legitimate issues specified in their terms of reference. The first commission of
independent India, set up in 1955 for a three-year term, expected charge on
September 1 that year and vacated the office on 31 august 1958. This initial time of
three years was irrationally received as the fixed term for the commission for all
the future years. But subsequently many commissions constituted afterwards, even
worked for less than three years, leaving their work halfway.
COMPOSITION
In spite of the fact that the commission's job requires research-oriented juristic
realizing, which can't basically be the result of legal experience, the commission
has always had a longing for resigned judges. The administrators of the four pre-
autonomy Law Commissions were famous legal advisers, not judges. Autonomous
India at first kept up the custom by designating the recognized legal scholar M C
Setalvad as the chairman of its first Law Commission. The arrangement was later
changed, and with the sole exemption of the fifth commission which was chaired
by a non-judge (the primary law secretary K V K Sundaram, the law commission
has consistently been headed by judges.
Individuals from the commission are likewise commonly drawn from the judiciary,
and the secretary has consistently been chosen from the bureaucracy. Generally, a
law commission consists of:
1. A chairman
2. A permanent member
3. A member secretary
4. Six part-time members
MANDATE AND PURPOSE
Sometimes just making laws isn't adequate, some command should be there to
check its execution, to check if it's really helpful for the general public, or are there
any imperfections which are to be remedied, or are the laws needed past a specific
period, or if a law should be revoked. An authority must be there to check every
one of these circumstances. The proposal or recommendations suggested by the
commission are not binding on the government. They may be accepted or rejected.
Action on the said suggestion depends on the ministries/departments, which are
concerned with the subject matter of the suggestions. Thus, law commission covers
every one of these cases so it can, alongside the Ministry of Law and Justice,
guarantee that peace and harmony prevails in the general public and justice and
equity is being delivered to individuals. The law commission of India has the
following mandate-
1. To review the system of judicial administration and give suggestions for
improving it and making it easily approachable and less expensive.
2. To examine the central legislations and recommend the line on which they
should be amended or revised in order to make them up-to-date
THE 22ND LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA
The Union Cabinet approved the creation of the 22nd Law Commission when
the term of the previous law commission ended in August 2018.The 22nd Law
Commission will be constituted for a period of three years from the date of
publication of its Order in the Official Gazette. It will consist of:
a. A full-time Chairperson;
b. four full-time Members (including Member-Secretary)
c. Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs as ex-officio Member;
d. Secretary, Legislative Department as ex officio Member; and
e. not more than five part-time Members1
1
“22nd Law Commission of India”. Press information bureau. 19 Feb 2020
CHAPTER 2
230TH REPORT OF THE LAW COMMISSION OF INDIA
The 230th report of the law commission of India was presented by the 18 th law
commission. The 18th law commission was constituted for a period of three years
by the government of India from 1st September, 2006 and continued till 31st
August, 2009 under the chairmanship of justice M. Jagannadha Rao who,
continued to serve as the Chairman of the commission until 28 May 2007 and after
that Justice A. R. Lakshmanan was appointed as the Chairman of the commission.
The 230th report suggested some important reforms in the judiciary. The Law
commission had in its earlier reports already given varied recommendations
regarding the reforms in the judiciary. The recommendations in this report were
basically the suggestions given by Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly, who was a
Supreme Court Judge at that time.
BACKGROUND
The issue of access to justice is profound and inescapable in India and has
influenced and diminished the capacity of the general set of laws and legal systems
to react to injustices against individuals. The crisis of delays and slow justice has
inundated the Indian legal system at different levels of decision making.
The execution of new legislations and the increase in understanding of those
legislations prompted the expansion of cases in the courts, which are the
components for the "delay in justice". However delay in justice may lead towards a
miscarriage of justice and increment in the expenses of a law suit. Nonetheless, the
fast delivery of justice does not imply rushed dispensation of justice without
thinking about the legitimate arrangements and the merits of the case. The
insufficiency of law officials including the authoritative staff is also one of the
significant imperfections that hampers the fast and speedy dispensation of Justice.
So the 230th report gives recommendations to make better these areas of judiciary
and tries to give suggestions so that every individual can utilize the available
resources and can get fair Impartial and speedy Justice.
THEMES & THOUGHTS
1. Selection and appointment of High court Judges
The post of the Judge of a High Court has a great importance under our
Constitution and the judge should not only be fair and impartial, but also intelligent
and diligent enough to impart fair and speedy justice. The report suggests that a
Judge should not be posted in the same high court where any of his/her kith and
kin are practicing because many a times the Judges either settle their scores with
the advocated who have practiced with them or may favor an advocate for whom
they may have soft corners.
The report also talks about the incumbent problem of nepotism prevalent in the
judiciary. A person who has relatives or family members as judges in the higher
courts, have a good chance of elevation from a lower court judge to a high court
judge
The report also suggests that the Chief Justices should not be transferred to other
High Courts across India after working in a particular High Court for many years
i.e. their posts should be non transferable. It also suggests that a Chief Justice
should be selected from the same high court where he/she has worked as a judge
for a considerable period of time. This is because a Chief Justice who is new to a
High Court has to depend upon others for taking decisions in many judicial
matters. And when the Chief Justice is from the same High Court, he will not only
be able to control the lower judiciary in a good way but will also be able to
understand the administrative work better way because he would be used to it for a
number of years.
2. Age of retirement
The report suggests that the age of retirement of the Judges of the High Court and
the Supreme Court should be increased by at least three years. The present age of
retirement, which is 60 years for High Court Judges and 65 years for Supreme
Court Judges, was fixed depending upon the normal life expectancy at that time,
which was 60 years. But the normal life expectancy today is 70 years, hence the
age of retirement can be increased by three years. This will allow the Judges to
serve the people for some greater time and will also have an effect on the huge
pendency of cases.
3. Increase in the number of Judges and creation of new Benches
The report brings up the problem of huge pendency of cases in almost every high
court. It suggests that the present strength of judges in the high court is not
sufficient to tackle the alarming situation, and the number of judges should be
increased immediately in order to insure speedy delivery of justice to the
individuals.
The report also suggests that the work of the High Courts must be decentralized
and more benches should be established in all the states across the Country. This
will increase the number of Judges and hence will help in tackling the large
number of cases that are pending. This will also be in the interest of the litigants,
who would not have to travel long distance to attend their cases.
4. Number of working days and vacations
The report suggests that in order to tackle huge pendency of cases it is necessary to
expand the number of working days of the Judges. This should be implemented at
all levels of judiciary. It is high time when the judges at all levels of judiciary must
devote full time to their judicial work and try to deliver the judgments within a
specified and reasonable time period. In order to increase the no. of working hours,
some states have made an effort to have some evening courts.
5. Speedy Justice
The report has emphasized on the fact that it is the right of every litigating person,
under article 21 of the Constitution, to get speedy and expeditious disposal of
cases. It suggested various methods for eliminating the delay in the justice delivery
process like the setting up of more fast track courts or special courts in India and in
order to save the time of the court it also suggested using the alternative dispute
resolution methods.
6. Access to justice
The report also puts a responsibility on the Lawyers to promote the speedy delivery
of justice. Many a times, the lawyers, just for their personal benefits, try to delay
the cases by asking for dates from the judges. It suggested that the lawyers also
have a social responsibility of helping the poor and the underprivileged, who do
not have access to justice because of the costly and complex procedure of the
judiciary.
There are provisions in the constitution of India, like Art.39A, which talks about
the concept of free legal aid to everyone. It puts a responsibility on the state to
provide and ensure equal opportunity and free legal aid, by the way of legislations
or in some other way, so that justice is not denied to anyone.
The report puts emphasis on the works of Lok Adalats, Nyaya Panchayats etc as
part of the campaign to provide expense-free and speedy justice to all the people,
and these also help in saving the time of the court from petty and avoidable cases,
and giving their time to more controversial and old matters.
7. Technology
The report suggests of using the modern digital techniques and data collection
technologies, in order to collect and record the information of various cases, so that
the judges can access that information and hence are able to allocate their
manpower effectively. It also suggests of creating a judicial database which will
not only help to access the information of various cases but will also help in
evaluating the performance of various courts which in turn will help to appraise
the performance of individual judges. This whole procedure will help in allocating
the areas which have a major backlog of cases, the types of cases that are pending,
etc.
The report also suggests the use of video-conferencing, which will help to increase
the efficiency of the courts. It will help in reducing the cost of the court proceeding
and will also reduce the travel expenses of the parties, who would have to cover
long distances to travel to the courts for their cases.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Keeping the themes and thoughts in mind, the 230th report gave the following
recommendations -:
1. It recommended the full utilization of the working hours of the courts. The
judges and the lawyers must be punctual and diligent in their work. The
report also put emphasis on the granting of adjournments by the Courts and
suggested that, the lawyers should not ask for unnecessary adjournments and
the adjournments should strictly be granted by the rules prescribed in CPC
2. It recommended the clubbing of various cases, which are filed on similar
facts, with the use of technology. This will save the precious time of the
courts and the judges can devote their time to many other cases which have
been pending since many years.
3. It recommended that the judges, instead of procrastinating the cases for
unnecessary reasons, must try to give the judgment within a reasonable time
period.
4. The report recommends that lawyers must refrain from making repetitive
and unnecessary arguments, and it suggests that the oral arguments should
not last for more than 1.5 hours unless the contention of the case is too much
complicated.
5. It recommends that the judges should not make esoteric and indecisive
judgments which would generate further litigation and hence will waste the
time of the court. Judgments should be clear, certain, and understandable.
6. It recommended that, since lawyers are entrusted with the responsibility of
acting as a mediator between the Law and the common individual and also
have a social responsibility of helping the poor, they should not resort to
strike and hence should not squander the opportunity of making a positive
impact on the society.
CHAPTER 3
ANALYSIS AND IMPLIMENTATIONS
1. As far as the appointments and filling up the vacancies of Judges and Chief
Justices in both High Courts and Supreme Court is concerned, the
Parliament in 2014 passed the National Judicial Appointments Commission
Act by the 99th constitutional amendment, which tried to setup a National
Judicial Appointments Commission and this commission was seen as the
replacement of the Collegiums System. This replacement was introduced
because there were arguments that the collegium system has not been
competent enough for the fast and fair appointment of Judges in the Courts.
But the NJAC act or the 99th amendment was repealed by a five Judge
Supreme Court bench in 2015 in Supreme Court Advocates on Record
Association and ors vs. Union of India. The reason for repealing the
amendment was that, it would be inappropriate to vest the executive with the
power of appointing Judges.
In order to increase the number of Judges in Supreme Court, the parliament
passed the Supreme Court amendment bill 2019, which increased the
number of judges from 31 to 34(including Chief Justice). The original
number of Judges in Supreme Court was 7 which was later increased to
31(including Chief Justice) by means of various amendments
2. The establishment of the Fast track courts in India was done with the
purpose of quickly clearing the judicial cases, which have been pending
from a long time, with the first Fast track courts being established in 2000.
After the gang rape case in Delhi in 2012, the establishment and proceedings
of the Fast Track Courts took a new shape. Justice Verma Committee was
set up to recommend changes in the substantive and procedural criminal law
in order to attain faster disposal of cases. Since then many changes have
taken place in this regard.
Recently the Andhra Pradesh Government passed the Disha Act, which
provided for expediting trials, related to cases of rapes and gang rapes,
within 21 days of the filing of the complaint.
In order to provide doorstep justice at the village level, the Gram Nyayalayas
Act was passed by the government in 2008, which provided for the setting
up of 2500 Gram Nyayalayas. But because of the pending establishments of
the new Gram Nyayalayas awaiting appointments in the existing Gram
Nyayalayas, the Supreme Court in January 2020, directed the Chief Justices
of the High Courts of all the states to start the process of consultation with
the respective state executives, for the establishment of the Gram
Nyayalayas.
3. In order to strengthen the ADR mechanism in India, the Government passed
the Arbitration and Conciliation (amendment) Bill 2019 which seeks to
amend the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996. It was basically done to
promote the idea of arbitration and to protect the stakeholders from fraud
and corruption. The purpose of the bill was also to make India an
international hub for arbitration.
In order to provide for early settlements and mediations, the Government
also amended the Consumer Protection Act 1986. Earlier there was no
provision for mediation in the Consumer Protection Act 1996. The
Government through the Amendment, in 2019, tried to include the out of
court settlement and the Consumer Redressal mechanism, in the Consumer
Protection Act.
4. As far as the question of strike by lawyers is concerned, the supreme court,
in many cases, have expounded that such an act is intolerable as the lawyers,
being officers of the court, have some inherent responsibilities towards their
clients which they must follow in order to insure the untroubled functioning
of the courts. The Supreme Court has clearly mentioned in one of the
judgments that, a strike can cause a serious damage to the judicial as a
whole.2Propounding on the same, the Supreme Court, in one of the cases,
said that, a lawyer commits professional misconduct by going on a strike 3In
one of the cases the Supreme Court held that the bar council of any state
does not have the power to call for a strike4
2
krishnakant tamrakar vs state of madhya Pradesh, (2017) 5 S.C.C. 702
3
Dr. B.L. Wadehra vs. State (NCT of Delhi), AIR 200 Del 266
4
Ex-capt. Harish uppal vs. union of India, (2003) 2 S.C.C. 45
CONCLUSION
After reading and analyzing this report, it is clear that the government has not
taken into account all the recommendations of the commission to the fullest. There
are many other blue areas left to be taken note of in the judiciary, at all levels. It is
not the first time that the Law commission has given any report related to reforms
in the judiciary. As of now the recommendations of the law commission are not
binding on the government. The need of the hour is to give constitutional status to
the law commission, so that all its recommendations are taken into consideration.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/reports/report230.pdf
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Express ( Feb. 20 .2020),
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