Serving Supreme Court Judge to be chairperson of 23rd Law Commission
The Centre has notified the constitution of the 23rd Law Commission of India for a three-year term ending August 31, 2027 with serving Supreme Court and high court judges as its chairperson and members.
The Commission will have a full-time chairperson and four full-time members including a member-secretary, a law ministry notification stated.
The decision to have a sitting SC judge to chair the Law Commission comes at a time when there is a renewed impetus to Uniform Civil Code (UCC) – an unfulfilled poll promise of the BJP.
The term of the 22nd Law Commission ended on August 31 without submitting its report on the UCC.
In his 11th consecutive Independence Day speech from the Red Fort last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the adoption of UCC in India. Terming the current system of separate civil codes for various religious groups as “communal”, PM Modi advocated for a secular civil code for the entire country.
A non-statutory body set up under an executive order, the Law Commission advises the government on legal issues and prepares reports and draft laws on various issues.
The chairperson/members of the Law Commission “who are serving judges of the Supreme Court/High Court shall perform their functions on a whole-time basis up to the date of retirement from the Supreme Court/High Court or expiry of the term of the Commission, whichever be earlier,” it said.
The time spent by them in the performance of such functions as chairperson/Member of the Commission will be treated as “actual service”, it added.
Provisions for appointing serving SC and HC judges as chairpersons and members have also been there in previous notifications as well, but in the recent past, either a retired SC judge or a retired HC chief justice has headed the Law Commission.
The secretary of the Department of Legal Affairs and the secretary of the Legislative Department will be its ex-officio members. There cannot be more than five part-time members, it said.
