The Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952: Extent and Definitions
Chapter Forty-Two
Syllabus topic 2, "Commission of Inquiry"
Pages 205 to 209 of 1033
In one line
A short Act, twelve numbered sections and seven lettered ones, whose second section decides the one question that generates most of the litigation: which Government may appoint.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952, Act 60 of 1952, extends to the whole of India and came into force on 1 October 1952; section 2 defines "appropriate Government" to mean the Central Government in relation to a Commission appointed by it to inquire into a matter relatable to any entry in List I, List II or List III of the Seventh Schedule, and the State Government in relation to a Commission appointed by it to inquire into a matter relatable to any entry in List II or List III; "Commission" to mean a Commission of Inquiry appointed under section 3; and "prescribed" to mean prescribed by rules made under the Act.
The size of the Act, and why that is remarkable
Twelve numbered sections. Sections 1 to 12.
Seven lettered sections, all inserted by amendment: 5A and 5B in 1971, 6A, 8A, 8B and 8C in 1971, and 10A in 1971. Chapters 400, 420, 430, 440 and 460 read them.
And a body of law out of all proportion to that length. Every major public inquiry in independent India, into riots, assassinations, structural collapses, financial scandals and the conduct of Governments, has been held under these nineteen provisions. A student who reads all of them, which this book does, is better placed than one who has read a chapter about them.
Compare the Lokpal Act's sixty-three sections and the Maharashtra Act of 2023's sixty-six. The difference is that those statutes create standing institutions with staff, budgets, benches and powers of prosecution. This one creates nothing permanent; it supplies a procedure that a Government can invoke, and the shortness is a consequence of that.
Section 1: extent and commencement
Section 1(1). Short title: the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
Section 1(2). It extends to the whole of India. The words excepting Jammu and Kashmir, which the Act formerly carried, were omitted by the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act 2019.
Section 1(3). It came into force on such date as the Central Government appointed by notification, and the footnote records the date: 1 October 1952, by S.R.O. 1670 dated 30 September 1952.
Why the extent clause is worth a sentence. Because a State's own Commission of Inquiry Act, where one exists, sits alongside this one. Chapter 490 works a case decided under the Jammu and Kashmir Commission of Inquiry Act 1962, which was a separate State statute at a time when the central Act did not extend there. Since 2019 the central Act extends to the whole of India.
The Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952: Extent and Definitions
Section 2(a): "appropriate Government", the definition that decides jurisdiction
"Appropriate Government" means:
- the Central Government, in relation to a Commission appointed by it to make an inquiry into any matter relatable to any of the entries enumerated in List I or List II or List III in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution; and
- the State Government, in relation to a Commission appointed by it to make an inquiry into any matter relatable to any of the entries enumerated in List II or List III.
Read the two limbs side by side and the asymmetry is deliberate and enormous.
The Central Government may inquire into a matter relatable to any entry in any of the three Lists, including the State List.
A State Government may inquire only into matters relatable to the State List and the Concurrent List, and not into a matter relatable to the Union List.
So the Union may inquire into a subject exclusively within a State's legislative competence. That is the provision on which State of Karnataka v. Union of India turned, and chapter 500 works it in full. The Karnataka Government's objection was precisely that the Union was reaching into its government; the Court's answer was that the Act permits it, and that an inquiry is not an exercise of executive power over the State but a fact-finding exercise directed at restoring public confidence.
A worked illustration of the asymmetry. Police is entry 2 of the State List. So a State may appoint a Commission into a police firing, and so may the Union. Defence is entry 1 of the Union List. A State may not appoint a Commission into a defence procurement, because the matter is not relatable to List II or List III.
Note the words "relatable to". Not "falling under" or "within". Relatable is a wider connection, and it is the word that lets a Commission inquire into a matter with several aspects touching different entries.
Section 2(b) and (c): the other two definitions
"Commission" means a Commission of Inquiry appointed under section 3. Short, and it does real work: everything in the Act keyed to "the Commission" is keyed to a body appointed under section 3, which is why section 11, read in chapter 450, has to deem other inquiring authorities to be Commissions before the Act can apply to them.
"Prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act. The standard definition, pointing to section 12.
Why the definition section is short and the Act is still workable
A student comparing this Act with the Lokpal Act will notice that this one defines almost nothing. There is no definition of "public importance", none of "inquiry", none of "report", none of "member".
The Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952: Extent and Definitions
That is a drafting choice with consequences in both directions.
In favour. The instrument is meant to be usable for any kind of public failure, from a riot to a bank collapse, and definitions would narrow it. Chapter 40 recorded that Crossman refused to define maladministration for the same reason.
Against. Almost every contested question about the Act has therefore been about the meaning of an undefined phrase: what is a definite matter of public importance under section 3, what is the same matter under the proviso, when is a person likely to be prejudicially affected under section 8B. Chapters 390, 500 and 440 are those questions.
A worked example
A large private bank in a State fails, and depositors lose money. There are allegations that the State's cooperation department ignored warnings and that a Union regulator did nothing.
Can the State appoint a Commission? Banking is entry 45 of the Union List. Cooperative societies are entry 32 of the State List. If the terms of reference are drawn to inquire into the conduct of the State cooperation department, the matter is relatable to entry 32 and the State may appoint. If they are drawn to inquire into the regulation of the bank, the matter is relatable to entry 45 and the State may not.
Can the Union appoint? Yes, on either framing, because section 2(a)(i) allows it to inquire into a matter relatable to an entry in any of the three Lists.
And if both appoint? The proviso to section 3(1) governs, and chapter 390 reads it: where the Central Government has appointed, no State may appoint another Commission into the same matter without the Central Government's approval while the Central Commission is functioning; and where a State has appointed, the Central Government shall not appoint another into the same matter while the State's Commission functions.
Which is precisely how the litigation in 1977 arose, and chapter 500 shows how the Court decided whether two notifications were into "the same matter".
What beginners get wrong
That a State can inquire into anything happening in the State. It can inquire into matters relatable to List II or List III. A matter relatable only to the Union List is outside it, however local the facts.
That the Union can only inquire into Union subjects. Section 2(a)(i) expressly allows List II as well.
That the Act defines "public importance". It does not, and chapter 390 shows the courts filling the gap.
That the Act applies to every inquiry. It applies to a Commission appointed under section 3, and to another authority only if the Government notifies under section 11 that it shall apply.
The Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952: Extent and Definitions
Quick revision
Act 60 of 1952, in force 1 October 1952, extends to the whole of India since the omission of the Jammu and Kashmir exception in 2019.
Twelve numbered sections, plus 5A, 5B, 6A, 8A, 8B, 8C and 10A inserted by amendment.
s.2(a) "appropriate Government": the Central Government for a Commission appointed by it into a matter relatable to List I, II or III; the State Government for one appointed by it into a matter relatable to List II or III only.
The asymmetry: the Union may inquire into a State List matter; a State may not inquire into a Union List matter.
s.2(b) "Commission" means one appointed under section 3. s.2(c) "prescribed" means by rules under the Act.
Almost nothing else is defined, which keeps the instrument wide and puts the contested questions on undefined phrases: definite matter of public importance, the same matter, likely to be prejudicially affected.
Test yourself
1. Who is the appropriate Government under the Act, and what is the asymmetry between the two limbs? The Central Government in relation to a Commission appointed by it to inquire into a matter relatable to any entry in List I, List II or List III of the Seventh Schedule; and the State Government in relation to a Commission appointed by it to inquire into a matter relatable to any entry in List II or List III. The asymmetry is that the Union may inquire into a matter relatable to the State List, whereas a State may not inquire into a matter relatable only to the Union List.
2. Why does the asymmetry matter, and which case turned on it? Because it allows the Union to appoint a Commission into the conduct of a State's own Ministers and administration, on subjects exclusively within the State's legislative competence. State of Karnataka v. Union of India, (1977) 4 SCC 608, was a suit under article 131 by a State contending that a Central Commission into allegations against its Chief Minister and Ministers was an interference with its government and barred by the proviso to section 3(1); the Court upheld the Central notification.
3. How much does the Act define, and what follows from that? Very little: the appropriate Government, the Commission and the expression prescribed, and nothing else. It defines neither a definite matter of public importance, nor an inquiry, nor a report. The consequence is that the instrument remains usable for any kind of public failure, but that almost every contested question under the Act has been about the meaning of an undefined phrase, and has had to be settled by the courts.
The Commissions of Inquiry Act 1952: Extent and Definitions
4. May a State Government appoint a Commission to inquire into the regulation of a bank? Explain. Not if the matter is relatable only to entry 45 of the Union List, banking. Section 2(a)(ii) confines a State's Commission to matters relatable to List II or List III. If the terms of reference are instead drawn to inquire into the conduct of the State's own cooperation department, the matter becomes relatable to entry 32 of the State List and the State may appoint. The drafting of the terms of reference therefore decides competence.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.