CB No. 191 COMMrrrEE ON SUBORDINATE LEGISLATION FIFTH REPORT (THIRD LOK SABRA) (Presented on the 28th April, I966) PAIL'AMt"f 11f!~ARt a..ttr.l lJe" •• 'h",,:ttt ............... - -- LOJ( SABRA SECRETARIAT NEW DELHI ApNlIIHI8 V __lui, 1888(Sab) ~ ~ Price :1' 35 Paiae CONTENTS PARA Nos. PAGE Nos. CoMPOSITION OF nIB COMMITTEI! (iii) RBPoRT I. Introduction 1-3 II. Formula for laying of Delegated Legialation before the Houses of Parliament-Bills under Article 3S7(1) (a) of the Constitution 1-3 tIl. The Central Secretariat Service Assistanu' Grade (Competitive Examination) Regulations. 196s (G.S.R. IISI of 196s) 7-11 3-4 IV. The Petroleum Products (Supply & Distribution) Order, 196s (G.S.R. B30 of 196s) I2-IS 4-S V. The Income-tax Appellate Tribunal Members (1W:ruitment - IJId Condition, of Service) Rulel. 1963 eG.S.a. 126S of 1963) 16-19 S-7 VI. Bye-laws for reguladng the construction of pavements and culverts within the limiu of Ajmer Cantonment (S.R.O. 130 of 1963) 20---31 7-B VII. The Delhi and Himachal Pradesh Civil Service (Probation. Training and Depanmental Examination) RtgulatioJU 1964 (G.S.R. 1034 of 1964) . • • • • aa-24 B-9 'VIII. Defects in 'Ordel!l' as-zB 9-10 .lX. Reo\Qlmel1(Lation of the Col11Illittee (wu panI8 41-45 of Third Repon) Rule 70 of the Conduct of E1ecnons Rules, 1961 2.9-33 10-13 X. Delay in Jaymg of 'Orden' on rhe Table of the House 34 1a-I3 -XI. Action taken by Government on recomm.:ndadonaof Com- mittee on Subordiaate Legililanon (Third Lok Sabha) 3S 13 .sUMMARY 0. RIIooMMBNDAnONS MADE BY,. AND ASStiRANCBS . GIVIUI TO, THE CoMMtTTBB 14-I S .APPllND1CBS- I. Statement of 'Onkn' in respect of which there has been delay of more than IS days in laying them on the Table of the House 16-19 ~I. Statement showing the action taken by the Government on the recommendations made by the Conuniltc:e on Subordinate Legislation (Third Lok Sabha) . 218 (B)LS-I COMPOSITION OF THE COMMITTEE ON SUBORDINATE LEGISLATION (1965-66) Shri S. V. Krishnamoorthy Rao-ChaiTman 2. Dr. M. S. Aney 3. Shri Bhagwat Jha Azad 4. Shri Ramchandra Vithal Bade ·5. Shri Sachin:dra Chaudhuri 6. Shri Homi F. Daji 7. Shri N. Dandeker 8. Shri Harish Chandra Heda 9. Shri Madhavrao Laxmanrao J adhav 10. Shri H. V. Kaujalgi 11. Shri Shiv Charan Mathur 12. Shri R. V. Reddiar 13. Shri M. P. Shinkre 14. Shri H. Siddananjappa 15. Shri N. M. Wadiwa. SECRETARIAT Shri M. C. Chawla-Deputy SecTetaTY. ----------------------------------------------------.----~- -Ceased to be a member of the Committee w.e.f. the lit January, 1_ OD his bein& appointed a MiDiRer. REPORT I Introduction I, the Chairman of the Committee 'on Subordinate Legislatioh, having been authoriSt'd by the Committee to present the Report on their behalf, present this their Fifth R.eport. 2. Subsequent to the presentation of their Fourth Report, the Com· mittee have held four sittings and considered 747 'Orders'. The Com- mittee considered and adopted this Report at their sitting held on the 21st April, 1966. 3. Observations of the Committee on matters which arose during the course of examination of the 'Orders' and matters which required to be brought to the notice of the House have been included in this Report. n Formula for laying of DeleptecJ Leefslation before the Houses of Parliament-Bills under 8I"ticle 351(1) (a) of the Constitution. 4. Clause 3 of the Kerala State Legislature (Delegation of Pawers) Bill, 1964, which was brought before the Lok Sabha under Article 357 (1) (a) of the Constitution, conferred on the President the powers of the State Legislature to make laws and provided that every Act enacted by the President shall, as soon as may be after enactment, be laid ~fore each House of Parliament. Sub-clause (4) thereof was as under:- • (4) Either House of Parliament may, by resolution passed within seven days from the date on which the Act has been laid before it under sub-section (3), direct any modifica- tions to be made in the Act, and if the modifications are agreed to by the other House of Parliament during the ses- sion in which the Act has been so laid before it or the session succeeding, such modifications shall be given effect to by the President 'by enacting an amending Act under sub-section (2): 2 Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall aftect the vali- dity of the Act or of any action taken thereunder before it is 80 amended.' 5. During the clause by clause consideration of the Bill, an objec- tion was raised- by Dr. L. M. Singhvi, M.P. with regard to the time limit of seven days for modification of a President's Act laid before the House, on the ground that it gave very little time to the members to. study the provisions of the Act and to initiate and complete the process of passing a resolution, if any, directing modifications therein. It was suggested that the usual formula providing for laying of sta- tutory rules and orders before the Houses of Parliament, as recom- mended by the Committee on Subordinate Legislation (Second Lok Sabha) in paragraph 45 of their Seventh Report and <accepted by the Government, should be incorporated in the Bills brought before the House under Article 357 (1) (a) of the Constitution. The clause, as it stood was passed by the House, after the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home AJ!airs (Shri Jai Sukhlal Hatbi nad stated:- "After all, this Btll was introduced the day before and today we are pas9ing it. Therefore, I think, it is in the interest of the State that it should not be delayed too long:' 6. Subsequently, this matter was also raised before the Committee. After taking note of the replyt given in the House by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Aftalrs, that a longer period for mo- difteation of President'. Acts by the Houses would delay the matters, the Committee feel that the period of seven days, is too short a period for exercising the power of modUlcation of a President's Act, if need be, by either House. The Committee ewe 01 the view that the 10TmulG, contaifted m. the Buts brought before the Houae under Article 357(1) (a) of the C~ tutUm, for laying of the PN.tident'.Aets before the Homes of Parlia- ment,.hould conform to the foUowi"fl fOTmu1a: 'Every rule made under this section shall be laid as soon as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in orae session or in two succ:eJSive aeslions, and if, before the expiry of the aeaion in which it is. 10 laid or the aeuion iDu¥diately follOwing, both Houses -L.S. Deb. lit. -"1_ cO. 35D--1e. tL.S. Deb. cti. l4-t-l_ c:c. 3S3a. 3 .3.gree in making any modification in the rule or both Houses agree that-the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so however, that any such modification or annulment . shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule.' [See Paragraph 45 of the 7th Report of Committee on Subordinate Legislation (Second Lok Sabha)]. m fte Central Secretariat· Service Assistants' Grade (Competitive Examination) RegulatioDS,I965 (G.S'&. 1151 of 1965) 7. The Central Secretariat Service Assistants' Grade (Competitive Examination) Regulations, 1965 were framed under Rule 13 (9) of the Central Secretariat Service Rules, 1962. 8. Regul~tion 7 (1) provided that the names of the candidates who were considered by the Union Public Service Commission in their discretion to be suitable for appointment on the results of the exami- nation shall be arranged in the order of merit and, subject to the provisions of regulation 8 (5), they shall be recommended for ap- pointment in that order. Regulation 8(5) laid down that the candidates belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes who were considered by the U.P.S.C. in their discretion to be suitable for appointment on the results of the examination with due regard to the maintenance of the efficiency of administration shall be eligible to be appointed to the VRCJUlcies reserved for them irrespective of their ranks in the order 4)f merit at the examination. 9. As it was felt that the words "in their discretion" occuring in the aforesaid regulations appeared to give an impression that the discretionary powers so conferred on the Commission could. be exer- cised by them arbitrarily, even otherwise than on the resu1ts of the examination, the Ministry of Home Affairs were requested to indicate whether they. would omit the words "in their discretion" from the -regulations in question. 10. The Ministr)' of Home Aftairs".~r. consulting the Ministry 4Of. Law, stated that on a plain reading of Regulations 7 (1) and 8 (5) 4 cit· the Central ~retariat Service Assistants' Grade (Competitive Zxaminltlon) R~gulat1otlS, 1965, the suitability of the condidates had to be consideted on the results of the examination. In the circumstan- ces, the M:niatry added, the apprehension that the existence of the words 'In their diScretion' might give rise to an impression that the discretionary power which had been conferred on the Commission might be exercised by the Commission arbitrarily, even otherwise than on the results of the examination, had no basis.