Union Cabinet approves formation of 22nd Law Commission to advise govt on complex legal issues; new panel to have three-year term

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission which advises the government on complex legal issues. The term of the previous law panel had ended on 31 August 2018. With the cabinet approval, the law ministry will now notify the new panel, which will have a term of three years. The panel will have a full-time chairperson, four full-time members (including a member secretary), and law and legislative secretaries in the law ministry as ex-officio members. “It will also have not more than five part-time members,” an official statement said. Usually, a retired Supreme Court judge or chief justice of a high court heads the Commission. The Commission was originally constituted in 1955 and is re-constituted every three years. The various law commissions have so far submitted 277 reports. The 21st Law Commission, under Justice BS Chauhan (retd), had submitted reports and working papers on key issues such as simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and uniform civil code. While this Commission had supported simultaneous polls, it had said time was not ripe for a common code. In 2015, a proposal was mooted to make the law panel into a permanent body either through an Act of Parliament or an executive order (resolution of the Union Cabinet). The move was, however, shelved after the Prime Minister’s Office felt that the present system should continue. In 2010 too, the then UPA government had prepared a draft cabinet note to give statutory status to the Law Commission and the law ministry had mooted to bring the Law Commission of India Bill, 2010. But the idea was again shelved.