Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies, including NITI Aayog · UPPCS (Uttar Pradesh)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, General Studies II:

Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies including NITI Aayog, their features and functioning.

Set up on 1 January 2015 by a resolution of the Union Cabinet, replacing the Planning Commission (1950); neither constitutional nor statutory
Composition: Prime Minister as chairperson, Governing Council of Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors, Vice-Chairperson, full-time and part-time members, ex officio Union ministers, Chief Executive Officer; regional councils
Functions: a policy think tank, cooperative and competitive federalism, long-term strategy, monitoring and evaluation (Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office)
Initiatives: Aspirational Districts Programme (2018) and Aspirational Blocks Programme, Atal Innovation Mission, indices such as the SDG India Index
Comparison with the Planning Commission: no power to allocate funds to states; criticism and evaluation

National Human Rights Commission and state commissions (Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993)
National Commission for Women (National Commission for Women Act, 1990), National Commission for Minorities (National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (Commissions for Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005)
Central Vigilance Commission (statutory under the CVC Act, 2003), Lokpal (Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013), Central Bureau of Investigation (Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946)
Central and State Information Commissions (Right to Information Act, 2005)
National Disaster Management Authority (Disaster Management Act, 2005)

Financial: Reserve Bank of India (1934 Act), SEBI (1992 Act), IRDAI (1999 Act), PFRDA (2013 Act), Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (2016)
Competition Commission of India (Competition Act, 2002)
Infrastructure and utilities: TRAI (1997), Central and State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (Electricity Act, 2003), Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (2008), Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERA, 2016)
Social sector: FSSAI (2006 Act), National Medical Commission (2019 Act)
State counterparts in Uttar Pradesh, such as the Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission and the Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority

Meaning: bodies with powers like a court to decide disputes and impose penalties, without being courts
Tribunals: Central Administrative Tribunal, National Green Tribunal (2010), NCLT and NCLAT (2016), Securities Appellate Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal
Consumer commissions; information commissions; the Election Commission's quasi-judicial powers

Independence: appointment and removal procedures, tenure, government control over budgets and staff
Accountability to Parliament; overlap between regulators; risk of regulatory capture
Vacancies, pendency and capacity; recommendatory powers of many commissions
Tribunals Reforms Act, 2021 and the courts' rulings on tenure and appointments to tribunals