EPFO EO/AO 2023 General Ability Test · Question 91 of 120

Correct — A, (a) National Human Rights Commission. The NHRC is a statutory body, created by an ordinary Act of Parliament — the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 — and not by any article of the Constitution. Parliament can alter its composition, its powers or its very existence by an ordinary amending Act, and it has done so, most recently in 2019 when the qualification for chairperson was widened from a former Chief Justice of India to include a former Judge of the Supreme Court. The word 'not' is printed in bold italics in the booklet, so the item asks for the odd one out, and the NHRC is it. The other three are all written into the Constitution itself, in a run of consecutive articles that is worth learning as a block: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes stands under Article 338. Article 338 originally provided only for a Special Officer to investigate safeguards for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes; the 65th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1990 replaced that office with a multi-member Commission, and the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003 then divided the joint commission in two, leaving Article 338 to the Scheduled Castes alone. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes stands under Article 338A, the article inserted by that same 89th Amendment so that the Scheduled Tribes would have a commission of their own. The two separated commissions began functioning as distinct bodies in 2004. The National Commission for Backward Classes stands under Article 338B, inserted by the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018. This is the change most likely to catch a candidate working from an older book, because until 2018 the NCBC really was a statutory body, set up under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 following the Supreme Court's direction in the Mandal judgment. The 2018 amendment repealed that footing and gave the Commission a constitutional one, along with Article 342A on the specification of socially and educationally backward classes. So all three commissions named in options (b), (c) and (d) derive their existence from Part XVI of the Constitution, and only the human rights commission derives its existence from a statute. The practical difference is real rather than formal: a constitutional body's composition, duties and powers cannot be altered except by a constitutional amendment, which needs a special majority, whereas a statutory body can be reshaped by an ordinary law.

• (b)National Commission for Scheduled Tribes — This is a constitutional body, so it cannot answer a stem asking which is not one. It was created by Article 338A, inserted by the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003, which split the earlier joint commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes into two. It consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal; it investigates and monitors the safeguards provided for the Scheduled Tribes, inquires into specific complaints, and has the powers of a civil court while doing so. It submits its reports to the President, who causes them to be laid before Parliament along with a memorandum on the action taken.
• (c)National Commission for Backward Classes — This is now a constitutional body and therefore not the answer, though it is the option that most often traps candidates. Until 2018 the NCBC was statutory, established under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 in the wake of the Supreme Court's Mandal ruling, and it could only recommend the inclusion or exclusion of castes in the central list. The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018 inserted Article 338B and gave it constitutional status, with the same structure of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members, the powers of a civil court in inquiries, and a duty to report to the President. Any book printed before 2018 will describe it as statutory, and that is what makes this option dangerous rather than obviously wrong.
• (d)National Commission for Scheduled Castes — Also a constitutional body, under Article 338, so it is not the odd one out. Its history runs the other way from the NCBC's: it began as a single Special Officer for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes provided for in the original Constitution, became a multi-member commission by the 65th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1990, and became a commission for the Scheduled Castes alone when the 89th Amendment of 2003 hived off the Scheduled Tribes. Its functions mirror those of the tribal commission — investigating safeguards, inquiring into complaints, advising on socio-economic development, and reporting to the President.

Indian public bodies fall into three classes by their source of authority, and the class decides how easily the body can be changed. A constitutional body is created by the Constitution itself, so its existence, composition and powers can be altered only by a constitutional amendment: the Election Commission under Article 324, the Comptroller and Auditor General under Article 148, the Union and State Public Service Commissions under Articles 315 to 323, the Finance Commission under Article 280, the Attorney General under Article 76, the GST Council under Article 279A, the Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities under Article 350B, and the three commissions of Articles 338, 338A and 338B. A statutory body is created by an Act of Parliament or of a State legislature and can be reshaped or abolished by another ordinary Act: the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women, the Central Information Commission, the Central Vigilance Commission, the Lokpal and the National Green Tribunal all belong here. An executive or non-statutory body rests only on a government resolution, NITI Aayog being the standard example. Reading the three articles together is instructive: they give the three commissions an almost identical design — a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, the powers of a civil court when inquiring, a duty to be consulted on major policy affecting the group, and annual reports laid before Parliament — which is why they are so easily confused with one another and why only the source article distinguishes them.

Polity items in the EO/AO paper concentrate on institutions rather than on doctrine, and the constitutional-against-statutory distinction is the single most examined test in that area, because it can be asked about dozens of bodies and because the answers move over time as amendments are passed. The habit rewarded is attaching an article number, or an Act with its year, to every commission a candidate learns — a body with an article is constitutional, a body with only an Act is statutory. Note the printing: 'not' is set in bold italics, and this booklet places a space before the question mark throughout.

• The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993.
• The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2019 allowed a former Judge of the Supreme Court, and not only a former Chief Justice of India, to chair the NHRC.
• The National Commission for Scheduled Castes is a constitutional body under Article 338.
• The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is a constitutional body under Article 338A, inserted by the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003.
• The National Commission for Backward Classes became a constitutional body under Article 338B by the 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018; before that it was statutory under an Act of 1993.
• The 65th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1990 replaced the Special Officer of Article 338 with a multi-member commission.
• Each of the three commissions has a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other members appointed by the President, and reports to the President.
• A constitutional body can be altered only by constitutional amendment; a statutory body can be altered by ordinary legislation.

• Describing the NCBC as statutory from a pre-2018 textbook; Article 338B changed its status.
• Assuming a body is constitutional because it is important or because its head is a retired judge.
• Merging the NCSC and NCST, which were one commission until the 89th Amendment separated them.
• Reading the ask affirmatively — three of the four options are constitutional bodies, and the word 'not' is what makes the fourth the answer.

EO/AO papers test this area by naming a body and asking for its source, by listing several bodies and asking which is or is not constitutional, or by matching bodies against articles or Acts. Keep one table with three columns — body, source, year — and revise it after every constitutional amendment, since this is a category whose correct answers change.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Commission for Backward Classes was given constitutional status by :

  • (a)The 89th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2003
  • (b)The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018
  • (c)The 103rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019
  • (d)The 65th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1990

  Answer(b) The 102nd Constitutional Amendment Act, 2018

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following is a statutory and not a constitutional body ?

  • (a)Union Public Service Commission
  • (b)Finance Commission
  • (c)Central Vigilance Commission
  • (d)Comptroller and Auditor General of India

  Answer(c) Central Vigilance Commission