Current Affairs – September, 2016

S Sivakumar appointed as full time member of 21st Law Commission of India

The Union Government has appointed S. Sivakumar as a full-time Member of the 21st Law Commission of India (LCI).

He is the professor at the Indian Law Institute (ILI) in New Delhi. He hails from Kerala and has authored several books on law.

He specialises in Administrative Law and Media Law. His areas of interests include Constitutional Law, IPR, Human Rights, ADR and Clinical Legal Education.  He is a recipient of the National Law Day Award in 2008.

21st Law Commission of India (LCI)

Union Government had constituted 21st LCI for period of 3 years with effect from 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2018. Former Supreme Court (SC) judge Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan is Chairman of the commission.

The mandate of the 21st LCI is to give major recommendations on a review of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the criminal justice system and the bail law in order to ensure uniformity in the procedure of granting the relief. It will also give recommendations on viability of the Uniform Civil Code and repealing of obsolete laws.

About Law Commission of India (LCI)

• The LCI is a non-statutory and non-constitutional body constituted by the Union Government from time to time.
• The first commission was constituted in 1955 and since then various commissions were re-constituted every three years.
• It is usually headed by a retired Supreme Court judge or former Chief Justice of a high court.
• So far, various Law Commissions have submitted 262 reports to make important contribution towards codification and progressive development of laws of the country.

Union Government notifies constitution of Monetary Policy Committee

The Union Government has notified the constitution of the six members Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).

In this regard, the Union Finance Minister has used powers designated under the section 45ZB of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act, 1934 to constitute MPC.

Composition of MPC

• Urjit Patel: RBI Governor (Chairperson).
• R Gandhi: Deputy Governor RBI in charge of Monetary Policy (Member).
• Michael Patra: Executive Director of RBI (Member).
• Chetan Ghate: Professor, Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) (Member).
• Professor Pami Dua: Director, Delhi School of Economics (DSE) (Member).       
• Ravindra H. Dholakia: Professor Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad (Member).

About Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

• The six member MPC has been entrusted with the task of fixing the benchmark policy rate (repo rate) required to contain inflation within the specified target level.
• It will help in determining the Monetary Policy which in turn adds value and transparency to monetary policy decisions.
• The meetings of the MPC will be held at least 4 times a year and it will publish its decisions after each such meeting.
• The RBI Act was amended by the Finance Act, 2016 to provide for a statutory and institutionalised framework for MPC.
• Composition of MPC: As per the provisions of the RBI Act, out of the six Members of MPC, three Members will be from the RBI and other three will be appointed by the Central Government.
• Governor of RBI (ex officio Chairperson), Deputy Governor of RBI, in charge of Monetary Policy (Member), One officer of RBI (Member) and three members appointed by Central Government as members.