Background of Law Commissions in India

• Law Reform has been a continuing process particularly during the last 300 years or more in Indian history. In the ancient period, when religious and customary law occupied the field, reform process had been ad hoc and not institutionalized through duly constituted law reform agencies. However, since the third decade of the nineteenth century, Law Commissions were constituted by the Government from time to time and were empowered to recommend legislative reforms with a view to clarify, consolidate and codify particular branches of law where the Government felt the necessity for it. The history of the Law Commission in India commenced prior to independence, on establishment of the first Law Commission in the year 1834 under the Charter Act of 1833. The first Chairman of the Law Commission was Lord Macaulay, one of the brilliant minds in the field of law. It is the first Law Commission so established that recommended codification of the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. Subsequent Law Commissions were constituted in the years 1853, 1861, 1879 which were also responsible for the enactment of so many laws, the important ones among them being the Indian Code of Civil Procedure, the Indian Contract Act, the Indian Evidence Act and the Transfer of Property Act, etc.
• After India gained independence in the year 1947 and the British regime ended, the Constituent assembly was constituted to draft a constitution for governance of our country, consisting of eminent citizens of India. They gave us the present constitution which came into force on the 26th January, 1950.
• The first Law Commission of independent India came to be established in the year 1955 and it was chaired by an eminent leading lawyer Sri. M. C. Setalvad, who was then the Attorney-General of India. Since then Law Commissions are being periodically constituted and most of them were chaired by former Judges of the Supreme Court of India. It is with effect from 01/09/2006 that the Eighteenth Law Commission was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Justice A. R. Laxmanan, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India.

Background for establishing Haryana State Law Commission

• The State Government considered it necessary and expedient to set up machinery for review, revision, amendment and modification of existing laws and enactment of fresh legislation to have and achieve its true objects and make justice simple, speedy, effective and substantive.
• Therefore, the Second Haryana State Law Commission is established and headed by a chairperson; the commission will have two full-time members. The notification specifies that the commission would forward its recommendations to the State Government for placing them before the Haryana Assembly for passage.

Constitution of Haryana State Law Commission

• Accordingly, the Government by the order No. 3/1/2021-4AR, dtd. 26/05/2021 constituting the Haryana State Law Commission. The order provides for constituting the Haryana State Law Commission with a full time Chairperson, two Members, a Member Secretary, and a Part time member.
• The State Government has set up the Haryana State Law Commission for the review and amendment of laws and enactment of fresh legislation. To be headed by a Chairperson, who will either be a chief justice/judge of the HC, the commission will have two members. One of them will be a serving or retired District and Sessions/Additional District & Session’s judge and other an advocate with at least 15 years of legal practice. The tenure will be three years.
• The order provides that the State Government shall appoint Chairperson and Members as follows:-

(a) The Chairperson shall be a person who has been a Chief Justice or a Judge of a High Court;

(b) First full-time Member shall be a person who is or has been District Judge/Additional District & Sessions Judge:

(c) Second full-time Member shall be an Advocate having atleast 15 years of experience as an Advocate

(d) Two part-time members shall be persons with distinguished experience of working in the field of Social work. Health, psychology, child and women welfare, Education, Sociology, Law, criminology or any other social science discipline of atleast 10 years.

(e) There shall be a Member Secretary of the Commission who shall be serving HCS (Judicial or Executive Branch having atleast 10 years of Government service;

(f) The Commission may from time to time, co-opt such member as it deems necessary but no such co-option shall be made without approval of the State Government;

(g) The Member Secretary shall be the Drawing and Disbursing officer with respect to the establishment of the Commission. He shall exercise such administrative powers, and perform such functions as may be specified with the prior approval of the Chairperson and shall also assist the Chairperson and Members in performance of the functions of the Commission.

• The order speaks of the accommodation and staff. It also speaks about the terms and conditions of the Chairman, Members and Member Secretary.