MPSC 2023 Prelims Paper-I · Question 78 of 100

Correct — option (4). This question has no statement list: the four printed items are the options themselves, and the first three are each drawn, almost in its own words, from clause (5) of Article 338B of the Constitution, which sets out the duties of the National Commission for Backward Classes. Because all three are genuine duties, the answer is 'All of the above'. Article 338B was inserted by the Hundred and Second Constitutional Amendment Act of 2018, which converted the Commission from a statutory body under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993 into a constitutional body alongside the National Commission for Scheduled Castes under Article 338 and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes under Article 338A. Clause (5) lists six duties, and the three printed here correspond to three of them. Option (1) reproduces the duty to inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes — the Commission's grievance function, which lets it take up an individual or collective complaint rather than waiting for a general review. Option (2) reproduces the duty to participate and advise on the socio-economic development of those classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State — the Commission's developmental and advisory function, which places it inside the policy process rather than outside it as a mere auditor. Option (3) reproduces the residuary duty, to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare, development and advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes as the President may specify by rule, subject to any law made by Parliament — a clause that allows the Commission's remit to be extended without amending the Constitution again. The three duties not offered here complete the picture and are worth holding: to investigate and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and legal safeguards for these classes and evaluate how those safeguards are working; to present reports to the President annually and at such other times as the Commission thinks fit; and to make recommendations in those reports on the measures the Union or a State should take. Since every option printed states a real duty, none can be excluded, and option (4) is the answer.

• (1)To enquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes — This statement is itself correct — inquiring into specific complaints about the deprivation of the rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes is expressly a duty of the Commission under Article 338B(5) — and it is wrong only as an answer, because selecting it alone denies the two other duties printed beside it. The distinction between this duty and the monitoring duty is worth noting, since the two are easily merged: monitoring is a standing review of how the safeguards are working in general, while inquiry is triggered by a particular complaint. When exercising either, the Commission has the powers of a civil court trying a suit — summoning witnesses, requiring the discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavit and requisitioning public records — which is what gives its proceedings force. An option that is true in itself but incomplete is the standard companion of an 'all of the above' key, and it catches the candidate who verifies the first option and stops.
• (2)To participate and advise on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes — This statement is also correct and also incomplete. Article 338B(5) makes it a duty of the Commission to participate and advise on the socio-economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union and any State. The provision is reinforced by clause (9) of the same Article, which requires the Union and every State Government to consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting these classes, so the advisory role is not merely permitted but built into the policy process. A candidate may hesitate over this option on the ground that advising on development sounds like the work of a planning or welfare department rather than of a commission; the constitutional text settles the point, and the hesitation is a reminder that the duties of these commissions are wider than the grievance function they are popularly identified with.
• (3)To discharge other functions in relation to the protection, welfare, development and advancement of socially and educationally backward classes — This statement is correct as well, and it reproduces the residuary duty in Article 338B(5): to discharge such other functions in relation to the protection, welfare, development and advancement of the socially and educationally backward classes as the President may, subject to the provisions of any law made by Parliament, by rule specify. Its open-ended wording is what makes candidates suspicious of it, since a duty defined as 'such other functions' looks like filler; in fact it is a standard drafting device, appearing in the corresponding clauses for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes commissions as well, and it allows the remit to be widened by presidential rule without a further constitutional amendment. Rejecting an option because its language is broad rather than because its content is false is a common way of losing a question whose key is 'all of the above'.

The National Commission for Backward Classes has passed through three phases, and the sequence is itself examinable. In Indra Sawhney v. Union of India in 1992 the Supreme Court, while upholding reservation for other backward classes, directed the setting up of a permanent body to examine requests for inclusion in and exclusion from the lists of backward classes; Parliament responded with the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993, under which the Commission was a statutory body whose principal work was advising on inclusions in and exclusions from the central list of other backward classes. The Hundred and Second Constitutional Amendment Act of 2018 then inserted Article 338B, giving the Commission constitutional status and a much broader mandate, and inserted Article 342A providing for the specification of socially and educationally backward classes. Under Article 338B the Commission consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal. Its duties under clause (5) are six: to investigate and monitor the safeguards provided for these classes and evaluate their working; to inquire into specific complaints of deprivation of rights and safeguards; to participate and advise on socio-economic development and evaluate its progress under the Union and any State; to present reports to the President annually and at other times; to make recommendations in those reports on measures the Union or a State should take; and to discharge such other functions as the President may specify by rule. Clause (8) gives it the powers of a civil court while investigating or inquiring, and clause (9) obliges the Union and every State to consult it on all major policy matters affecting these classes. A later chapter belongs to Maharashtra: after the Supreme Court's decision in the Maratha reservation case in 2021 read Article 342A as removing the States' power to identify socially and educationally backward classes, Parliament passed the Hundred and Fifth Constitutional Amendment Act of 2021 to restore that power to the States.

An 'all of the above' key is one of the Commission's most effective devices, and this paper offers the option ten times across its four hundred options. Its power lies in inverting the usual reading strategy. A candidate trained to hunt for the single best answer reads the first option, finds it plainly correct, and marks it — an approach that is efficient on most questions and fatal here. The only reliable procedure is to test every printed option on its own before selecting any of them, and to reach for the escape option when all of them survive, not because the question feels comprehensive. Note at the same time that being offered is not evidence of being keyed: the same escape appears on other questions in this paper where two of the options contradict one another and it cannot possibly stand. The second thing this item rewards is having read the actual text of Article 338B rather than a summary of it. Three of the six statutory duties are printed here nearly verbatim, and a candidate who knows the Commission only as a body that hears complaints from backward classes will be unsure about the advisory duty and the residuary duty and may talk themselves out of an option that is quoting the Constitution at them. For all three of the equality commissions — Articles 338, 338A and 338B — the duties clause is drafted in parallel terms, so learning one carefully covers the others. The English stem here prints the ungrammatical 'is/are a duties of', reproduced as printed.

• Article 338B, inserted by the Hundred and Second Constitutional Amendment Act of 2018, gives constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, which until then was a statutory body under the National Commission for Backward Classes Act, 1993.
• The duties of the Commission under Article 338B(5) are six: to investigate and monitor the safeguards for socially and educationally backward classes and evaluate their working; to inquire into specific complaints of deprivation of rights and safeguards; to participate and advise on socio-economic development and evaluate its progress; to present reports to the President; to make recommendations in those reports; and to discharge such other functions as the President may specify by rule.
• While investigating any matter or inquiring into any complaint, the Commission has all the powers of a civil court trying a suit, including summoning witnesses, requiring the production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavit and requisitioning public records.
• Article 338B(9) requires the Union and every State Government to consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting the socially and educationally backward classes.
• The Commission consists of a Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members appointed by the President; the statutory Commission of 1993 that preceded it was set up following the Supreme Court's direction in Indra Sawhney v. Union of India.

• Marking the first option that is plainly correct without testing the remaining options, which is precisely what an 'all of the above' key is designed to punish
• Rejecting an option because its wording is broad, when residuary clauses framed as 'such other functions as the President may specify' are standard constitutional drafting and are genuine duties
• Knowing the Commission only through its grievance function and doubting its advisory and developmental duties, which Article 338B(5) states expressly
• Assuming that because 'all of the above' is offered it is likely to be keyed, when on other questions in this paper the options contradict one another and the escape cannot stand
• Confusing the mandate of the statutory Commission of 1993, which centred on inclusions in and exclusions from the central list, with the far wider mandate conferred by Article 338B in 2018

The three equality commissions are examined in MPSC papers through composition questions, duty questions and status questions, and the last of these overlaps with the constitutional-versus-statutory classification that this paper also tests elsewhere. Duty questions take two forms: an 'all of the above' item like this one, in which several genuine duties are listed, and a negative item asking which of four listed functions is not a duty of the Commission, in which the planted error is usually a function belonging to a different commission or to a ministry. Both are answered by having read the duties clause of Article 338B, and since Articles 338, 338A and 338B are drafted in parallel, one careful reading serves all three. The Commission also favours questions on when each body acquired its present status, so the dates — 1993 and 2018 for the backward classes commission, and the amendments that created the Scheduled Tribes commission — are worth holding alongside the duties themselves.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  While inquiring into a complaint regarding the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes, the National Commission for Backward Classes possesses which of the following powers ?

  • (a)The powers of a civil court trying a suit
  • (b)The power to punish for contempt of court
  • (c)The power to prosecute the offender directly
  • (d)No investigative power, since it may only make recommendations

  Answer(a) The powers of a civil court trying a suit — Article 338B(8) confers these powers, which include summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses, requiring the discovery and production of documents, receiving evidence on affidavit and requisitioning public records. The Commission does not prosecute and its findings take the form of reports and recommendations, but the civil-court powers give its fact-finding real force, and the same provision appears in the corresponding clauses for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes commissions.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The National Commission for Backward Classes under Article 338B consists of which of the following ?

  • (a)A Chairperson and two other Members
  • (b)A Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members
  • (c)A Chairperson and five other Members
  • (d)A Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and five other Members

  Answer(b) A Chairperson, a Vice-Chairperson and three other Members — all appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal, with their conditions of service and tenure determined by rules made by the President. The same five-member composition is prescribed for the National Commissions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under Articles 338 and 338A, the three provisions having been drafted in deliberately parallel terms.