Important committees and commissions
in India
What is the difference between
a committee and a commission?
A committee is a group of people who meet and deliberate according to fixed rules in order to make a decision or produce a document as a group. A commission is a group of people who are entrusted (that is the etymology) by a government to carry out a task. Sometimes the task is a specific one (like ascertaining a particular fact or resolving a particular problem) and sometimes the task is more long-term (like the SEC, that is, Securities and Exchange Commission). A commission is usually distinct from other kinds of agency in two ways: it has no single, permanent administrator, and it has no independent or constitutional authority of its own; it operates under the authority of another part of the government. Of course, a commission can be a committee (like the 9/11 Commission), but very few committees are commissions, and some commissions are not committees.
committees
A committee is a group of people who meet and deliberate according to fixed rules in order to make a decision or produce a document as a group. A commission is a group of people who are entrusted (that is the etymology) by a government to carry out a task. Sometimes the task is a specific one (like ascertaining a particular fact or resolving a particular problem) and sometimes the task is more long-term (like the SEC, that is, Securities and Exchange Commission). A commission is usually distinct from other kinds of agency in two ways: it has no single, permanent administrator, and it has no independent or constitutional authority of its own; it operates under the authority of another part of the government. Of course, a commission can be a committee (like the 9/11 Commission), but very few committees are commissions, and some commissions are not committees.
committees
1. Palekar Tribunal
: Journalists’ Pay reforms
2. U.C. Banerjee Commission : Enquiry into Godhra carnage (railways)
3. Sarkaria Commission : Centre-State relations
4. Srikrishna Commission : 1992 Bombay riots
5. Thakkar Commission : Indira Gandhi assassination case
6. Phukan Commission & Saharya Committee : Tehelka tapes
7. Malimath Commission : Criminal Justice
8. Upendra Commission : Inquiry on rape and murder Thangjam Manorama Devi
9. Malhotra Committee : Insurance Reforms
10. Janaki Ram Committee : Security scam
11. Ajay Vikram Singh Committee : Faster promotions in army
12. Rajinder Sachar Committee {1} : Companies and MRPT Act
13. Rajindar Sachar Committee {2} : Report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslims of India
14. Jyoti Basu Committee : Report on Octroi abolition
15 Balwant Rai Mehta Committee : Recommendations on decentralization system
16. Sawant Committee : Enquiry on corruption, charges against ministers & Anna Hazare
17. Chelliah Committee : Eradicating black money
18. Kothari Commission : Educational reforms
19. Wanchoo Committee : Tax enquiry
20. Bhanu Pratap Singh Committee : Agriculture
21. Aggarwal Committee : Nepotism in granting petrol pump, LPG connections
22. Rangarajan Committee : Reforms in private sector
23. Naresh Chandra Committee : Corporate governance
24. Chakravarti Committee : Banking sector reforms
25. Rekhi Committee : Structure of indirect taxation
26. G.V.Ramakrishna Committee : Disinvestment in PSU shares
27. Kelkar Committee : First committee on backward castes
28. P.C.Hotha Committee : Restructuring of civil services
29. Justice B.N.Kirpal Committee : 1st chairman National Forest Commission
30. Godbole Committee : Enron Power Project
31. J.C.Kumarappa Committee : Congress agrarian Reforms Committee
32. Swaminathan Committee : Population policy
33. Rangarajan Committee : Statistics
34. Wardha Committee : Inquiry on murder of Graham Staines
35. N.N. Vohra Committee : Criminalization of politics
36. Kelkar Committee {2} : Direct-Indirect Taxes
37. Alagh Committee : Civil Service Examinations
38. Abid Hussain Committee : Recommendations on Small scale industries
39. Narasimham Committee : Banking sector reforms
40. Chelliah Committee : Tax reforms
41. Mashelkar Committee : National Auto Fuel Policy
42. Boothalingam Committee : Recommendations on integrated wages, income and price policy
43. Omkar Goswami Committee : Industrial sickness
44. Yashpal Committee : Review of School Education system
45. Ram Nandan Prasad Committee : Constitution of creamy layers among Backward Castes
46. Kelkar Committee{3} : Enquiry on Kargil defense deals.
47. M.M. Punchhi Commission : Centre-State Relations [note- this committee has been set up recently- after the sad demise of Justice (Retd.) Sarkaria]
48. Thorat Committee : Caste-based discrimination against students in AIIMS
49. R.K.Raghavan Committee : Ragging in colleges
51. James Lyngdoh Committee- Student politics and student-body elections in colleges.
52. E.M.S. Nachiappan Committee : Reforms in the higher judiciary
53. Soli Sorabjee Committee : Police Reforms [it was constituted after the Judgement of the Supreme Court in Parkash Singh vs Union of India (2006)]
54. Ganguli Committee : Review of health facility planning and healthcare engineering and management
55. Percy Mistry Committee : Making Mumbai an IFC (International Financial Centre)
56. K.T. Thomas Committee- to look into ways of enhancing the effectives of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act
57. Fali S. Nariman Committee- Accountability and damages with regard to destruction of public property
58. Satwant Reddy Committee- review of laws relating to registration of pharmaceutical drugs and clinical trials
59. Raghuram C. Rajan Committee- financial sector reforms
60. Shah Commission (1966)- reorganisation of States
61. Tarkunde Committee- composition of the Election Commission and other electoral reforms
62. Dinesh Goswami Committee- electoral reforms
63. G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985) - set up by the planning commission in 1985, to look into the Administrative Arrangement for Rural Development and poverty Alleviation Programmes.
64. Butler Committee : Relation between Indian states & paramount power (the Queen of Britain)
2. U.C. Banerjee Commission : Enquiry into Godhra carnage (railways)
3. Sarkaria Commission : Centre-State relations
4. Srikrishna Commission : 1992 Bombay riots
5. Thakkar Commission : Indira Gandhi assassination case
6. Phukan Commission & Saharya Committee : Tehelka tapes
7. Malimath Commission : Criminal Justice
8. Upendra Commission : Inquiry on rape and murder Thangjam Manorama Devi
9. Malhotra Committee : Insurance Reforms
10. Janaki Ram Committee : Security scam
11. Ajay Vikram Singh Committee : Faster promotions in army
12. Rajinder Sachar Committee {1} : Companies and MRPT Act
13. Rajindar Sachar Committee {2} : Report on the social, economic and educational status of the Muslims of India
14. Jyoti Basu Committee : Report on Octroi abolition
15 Balwant Rai Mehta Committee : Recommendations on decentralization system
16. Sawant Committee : Enquiry on corruption, charges against ministers & Anna Hazare
17. Chelliah Committee : Eradicating black money
18. Kothari Commission : Educational reforms
19. Wanchoo Committee : Tax enquiry
20. Bhanu Pratap Singh Committee : Agriculture
21. Aggarwal Committee : Nepotism in granting petrol pump, LPG connections
22. Rangarajan Committee : Reforms in private sector
23. Naresh Chandra Committee : Corporate governance
24. Chakravarti Committee : Banking sector reforms
25. Rekhi Committee : Structure of indirect taxation
26. G.V.Ramakrishna Committee : Disinvestment in PSU shares
27. Kelkar Committee : First committee on backward castes
28. P.C.Hotha Committee : Restructuring of civil services
29. Justice B.N.Kirpal Committee : 1st chairman National Forest Commission
30. Godbole Committee : Enron Power Project
31. J.C.Kumarappa Committee : Congress agrarian Reforms Committee
32. Swaminathan Committee : Population policy
33. Rangarajan Committee : Statistics
34. Wardha Committee : Inquiry on murder of Graham Staines
35. N.N. Vohra Committee : Criminalization of politics
36. Kelkar Committee {2} : Direct-Indirect Taxes
37. Alagh Committee : Civil Service Examinations
38. Abid Hussain Committee : Recommendations on Small scale industries
39. Narasimham Committee : Banking sector reforms
40. Chelliah Committee : Tax reforms
41. Mashelkar Committee : National Auto Fuel Policy
42. Boothalingam Committee : Recommendations on integrated wages, income and price policy
43. Omkar Goswami Committee : Industrial sickness
44. Yashpal Committee : Review of School Education system
45. Ram Nandan Prasad Committee : Constitution of creamy layers among Backward Castes
46. Kelkar Committee{3} : Enquiry on Kargil defense deals.
47. M.M. Punchhi Commission : Centre-State Relations [note- this committee has been set up recently- after the sad demise of Justice (Retd.) Sarkaria]
48. Thorat Committee : Caste-based discrimination against students in AIIMS
49. R.K.Raghavan Committee : Ragging in colleges
51. James Lyngdoh Committee- Student politics and student-body elections in colleges.
52. E.M.S. Nachiappan Committee : Reforms in the higher judiciary
53. Soli Sorabjee Committee : Police Reforms [it was constituted after the Judgement of the Supreme Court in Parkash Singh vs Union of India (2006)]
54. Ganguli Committee : Review of health facility planning and healthcare engineering and management
55. Percy Mistry Committee : Making Mumbai an IFC (International Financial Centre)
56. K.T. Thomas Committee- to look into ways of enhancing the effectives of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act
57. Fali S. Nariman Committee- Accountability and damages with regard to destruction of public property
58. Satwant Reddy Committee- review of laws relating to registration of pharmaceutical drugs and clinical trials
59. Raghuram C. Rajan Committee- financial sector reforms
60. Shah Commission (1966)- reorganisation of States
61. Tarkunde Committee- composition of the Election Commission and other electoral reforms
62. Dinesh Goswami Committee- electoral reforms
63. G.V.K. Rao Committee (1985) - set up by the planning commission in 1985, to look into the Administrative Arrangement for Rural Development and poverty Alleviation Programmes.
64. Butler Committee : Relation between Indian states & paramount power (the Queen of Britain)
65. Hurtog Committee : Growth of British India education-its effects
66. Muddiman Committee : Working of Diarchy as in Montague Chelmsford reforms
commissions
1. Central Information Commission
Receiving and inquiring into complaints from aggrieved persons.
2. Central Vigilance Commission
Probing offences by Central Government officers, Officers of societies,
corporation and local authority under the Central Government.
3. Commission for Centre-State
Relations
Review of working of existing arrangements between Union and States i.e.
power, functions, and responsibilities in all spheres.
4. Commission of Enquiry (Tehelka
Commission)
To enquire into the definite matter of public importance with the power
of civil court.
5. Commission of Enquiry into
Oil-for-Food Scam
To inquire into the Oil-for-Food Scam.
6. Commission on Criminal Justice
Reformation of criminal justice system, compensation to victims, and
effective investment etc.
7. Committee on Reforming Bureaucracy
Best practices of Bureaucracy
8. Competition Commission of India
To curb monopolies, to ensure fair competition in India by prohibiting
adverse trade practices and to pass order for granting interim relief and to
impose penalties in case of defaults.
9. Delimitation Commission
Readjustment of the allocation of seats in Lok Sabha to several States
and total number of seats in the Legislative Assembly of each State.
10. Election Commission
Preparation of the electoral rolls, direction, superintendence, and
control of elections to Parliament and State Legislatures, recognition of
political parties and allotment of symbols and also conducting elections to
offices of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of India.
11. Finance Commission
Distribution of financial resources between Union and States, proceeds
from taxes, principles governing grants-in-aid to revenue of States out of
consolidated fund of India, etc.
12. Justice Nanavati Commission
To inquire into 1984 Riot case (Indira Gandhi Assassination Riot).
13. Kalelkar Commission
Adhering to Article 340, the First Backward Classes Commission was set
up by a presidential order on January 29, 1953
14. Khosla Commission
A one-man commission headed by Justice GD Khosla established July 1970
to re-investigate the circumstances surrounding the supposed death of Subhas
Chandra Bose. The commission reached the same conclusions as Shah Nawaz Committee.
15. Law Commission
To suggest for implementation and development in constitutional and
legal matters including the human way of death penalty
16. Liberhan Commission
To enquire into demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
17. Mandal Commission
Headed by Bindheshwari Prasad Mandal to consider the question of seat
reservations and quotas for people to redress caste discrimination, and used
eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine
"backwardness."
18. Mukherjee Commission
A one-man board of Justice Manoj Mukherjee, a retired judge of the
Supreme Court of India which was instituted in 1999 to enquire into the
controversy surrounding the reported death of Subhas Chandra Bose in 1945.
19. National Commission for Backward
Classes
Inclusion of castes as backward class in OBC lists and to deal with the
related matters.
20. National Commission for
Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (NCDNSNT)
A national commission set under Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, to study various developmental aspects of denotified and nomadic
or semi-nomadic tribes in India.
21. National Commission for Scheduled
Castes
To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the safeguards
provided for the SCs, to inquire into specific complaints on deprivation of
rights of SCs to participate and advice on the planning process of
socioeconomic development of SCs.
22. National Commission for Scheduled
Tribes
To investigate and monitor the matters relating to safeguards provided
for STs, to inquire into specific complaints on deprivation of rights of STs.
23. National Commission for Women
Investigation and examination of all matters relating to safeguards
provided for women, take up cases relating to women to other authorities and to
look into complaints relating to deprivation of women's rights.
24. National Commission on Labour
To review and suggest improvement of labour standard.
25. National Commission on Minorities
To evaluate the progress of the development of minorities under the
Union and States, look into complaints regarding the deprivation of minorities
rights.
26. National Commission to Review the
Working of Constitution of India
Study of working of Constitution. in key area.
27. National Forest Commission
Review and assessment of existing forest policy, legal frame work on
scientific and economic point of examination of current statutes of forest
administration and institutions and policy on development and wild life
management.
28. National Human Rights Commission
Receiving complaint from victim, directions to Government, etc. and
rehabilitation to victims.
29. National Judicial Commission
Appointment of Judges in high judiciary and transfer of High Court
Judges.
30. National Knowledge Commission
On 13 June, 2005 , the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh,
constituted the National Knowledge Commission, as a think-tank charged with
considering possible policy that might sharpen India's comparative advantage in
the knowledge-intensive service sectors. The Commission was to recommend reform
of the education sector, research labs, and intellectual property legislation;
as well as consider whether the Government could itself upgrade its use of the
latest techniques to make its workings more transparent. The NKC website was
launched in February 2006.
31. Planning Commission
To oversee the 5 years planning program for the economic development
etc. in India.
32. Sahariya Commission
To review the POTA implementation in Centre and various States.
33. Sarkaria Commission
It was set up in June 1983 to examine the relationship and balance of
power between state and central governments in the country and suggest changes
within the framework of Constitution of India. It was headed by Justice
Rajinder Singh Sarkaria, a retired judge of the Supreme Court of India.
34. Shah Commission
inquire into all the excesses committed in the Indian Emergency (1975 -
77). It was headed by Justice J.C. Shah
35. Shah Nawaz
Committee was an enquiry committee established in 1956 to investigate
the supposed death of Indian Subhas Chandra Bose in August 1945. The Committee
included Shah Nawaz Khan.
36. States Reorganisation Commission
constituted by the Central Government of India under the States
Reorganisation Act and consisted of Hon. Fazal Ali, K.M. Panikker, and H.N.
Kunzru. The Report submitted by the Committee in 1955 known as SRC Report went
in to the problems of Telangana and Andhra regions, and the arguments for and
against the merger of two regions.
