The Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003: the Architecture

In one line

Twenty-seven sections and a Schedule, in five chapters, and its section 1 is one line long because the Act has no extent clause at all.

In the wording a student can write in an exam: the Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003, Act 45 of 2003, gives statutory status to the Central Vigilance Commission in compliance with the directions in Vineet Narain v. Union of India, (1998) 1 SCC 226; it runs to twenty-seven sections in five chapters with a Schedule prescribing the form of oath, and by section 3(1) the Commission constituted under the Ordinance of 1999 and continued under the Government Resolution of 4 April 1999 as amended on 13 August 2002 is deemed to be the Commission constituted under the Act.

Section 1, and what is missing from it

Section 1 reads, in its entirety: "This Act may be called the Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003."

That is the whole section. No sub-sections. No extent clause and no commencement clause.

Why that is worth a paragraph. Almost every Indian Act opens with three sub-sections: short title, extent, commencement. Chapter 100 read section 1 of the Lokpal Act, which has four. Chapter 380 read section 1 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, which has three. This one has none of them.

The reason is the Act's history, which chapter 570 set out. The Act was not creating something new on a chosen date; it was giving statutory foundation to a body that had been running since 1964 and had been on two Ordinances in between. The commencement question is dealt with by the deeming in section 3(1) rather than by a commencement clause, and the Act was brought into force with retrospective effect to 25 August 1998, the date the first Ordinance took effect.

A student who notices the absence has read the Act. It is exactly the kind of small structural observation that distinguishes an answer written from the statute from one written from a summary.

The shape of the Act

Plus the lettered sections, which chapter 640 reads: 8A and 8B, inserted into Chapter III, and 11A, inserted after section 11. All three came from the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act 2013, section 58 and the Schedule, with effect from 16 January 2014.

And the Schedule, headed with the reference "See section 5(3)", in square brackets in the print,, carrying the form of oath or affirmation to be made by the Central Vigilance Commissioner or a Vigilance Commissioner.