Constitutional, Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · UPSC Civil Services

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III: General Studies II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations):

Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Topics in detail

Constitutional posts and bodies: what to know for each

Provision, composition, appointment, tenure, removal, powers, functions, independence, reports and recent issues

Constitutional bodies

Election Commission of India (Article 324): multi-member since 1993; removal of the Chief Election Commissioner in the manner of a Supreme Court judge (Article 324(5))
Union Public Service Commission and State Public Service Commissions (Articles 315 to 323): functions (Article 320), removal of members after a Supreme Court inquiry (Article 317), annual reports (Article 323)
Finance Commission (Article 280): constituted every fifth year or earlier; a chairman and four other members
Goods and Services Tax Council (Article 279A): Union and state finance ministers, weighted voting
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (Articles 148 to 151): removal like a Supreme Court judge; the 1971 Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service Act; compliance, financial and performance audit; reports to Parliament and legislatures
Attorney General (Article 76) and Advocate General (Article 165)
National Commission for Scheduled Castes (Article 338), National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (Article 338A), National Commission for Backward Classes (Article 338B)
Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities (Article 350B)
State Election Commission and State Finance Commission (Articles 243K and 243-I)

Statutory bodies

National Human Rights Commission and State Human Rights Commissions (Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, amended in 2019): composition, powers of inquiry, recommendatory nature
Central Vigilance Commission (Central Vigilance Commission Act, 2003; Vineet Narain, 1997) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (powers under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946); consent of states for CBI investigations
Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013): a chairperson and up to eight members, half of them judicial; selection committee; jurisdiction
Central and State Information Commissions (Right to Information Act, 2005): appointment, tenure and salaries after the 2019 amendment
National Commission for Women (1990 Act), National Commission for Minorities (1992 Act), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2005 Act)
National Disaster Management Authority (Disaster Management Act, 2005)

Regulatory bodies

Financial regulators: Reserve Bank of India (1934 Act), SEBI (1992 Act), IRDAI (1999 Act), PFRDA (2013 Act)
Sectoral regulators: TRAI (1997 Act), electricity regulatory commissions (Electricity Act, 2003), FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006)
Competition Commission of India (Competition Act, 2002); Data Protection Board (Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023)
Issues: independence, regulatory capture, overlap between regulators, accountability to Parliament, appointment of members

Quasi-judicial bodies

Meaning: bodies with powers resembling a court’s, deciding disputes or imposing penalties under a statute
National Green Tribunal (2010 Act), Central Administrative Tribunal, Armed Forces Tribunal (2007 Act)
National Company Law Tribunal and Appellate Tribunal (Companies Act, 2013), Income Tax Appellate Tribunal
Consumer commissions at district, state and national level (Consumer Protection Act, 2019)
Issues: tribunalisation of justice, vacancies, independence of members, appeals directly to the Supreme Court

Non-constitutional, executive bodies (for comparison)

NITI Aayog (Cabinet resolution, 2015) and other bodies created by executive resolution; how they differ from statutory bodies

Overlaps

Election machinery: Representation of the People Act and Elections. Bodies for vulnerable sections: Welfare of Vulnerable Sections.
General Studies III: “Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate”.