Constitutional, statutory and executive bodies
A body's legal birth certificate tells you how hard it is to abolish: the Constitution, an Act of Parliament, or a government resolution.
What the paper can ask
- Constitutional: the office of the Attorney General for India is created by the Constitution itself, not by any Act of Parliament.
- Statutory: the Competition Commission of India works under the Competition Act, 2002, so Parliament can change its powers by ordinary law.
- Executive: NITI Aayog was created by a Union Cabinet resolution, with no Article or Act behind it. The Prime Minister chairs it and its Governing Council includes Chief Ministers.
- Changing a constitutional provision needs a constitutional amendment under Article 368, which is harder than passing an ordinary law.
Why exams ask
Setters ask which category a named body belongs to, the Article or Act behind it, and which bodies are neither constitutional nor statutory.
The full story
Public bodies in India differ by what created them. Constitutional bodies are named in the Constitution itself, with their own Articles, so changing them needs a constitutional amendment. Statutory bodies are created by an Act of Parliament or a state legislature and can be reshaped by ordinary law. Executive or non-statutory bodies rest only on a government resolution or order and can be wound up the same way.
Test yourself
1.SEBI, set up in 1988 as a non-statutory body, received statutory powers through the SEBI Act of which year?
Correct. SEBI was given statutory status under the SEBI Act, 1992 (effective 30 January 1992).
Not quite. SEBI was given statutory status under the SEBI Act, 1992 (effective 30 January 1992). It goes into your error book.
2.The Planning Commission of India, set up in March 1950, was a body that was
Correct. The Planning Commission derived its authority from neither the Constitution nor statute. It was set up by a 1950 resolution with Nehru as chairman.
Not quite. The Planning Commission derived its authority from neither the Constitution nor statute. It was set up by a 1950 resolution with Nehru as chairman. It goes into your error book.