Which of the following is/are a duties of National Commission for Backward Classes ?

Question

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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.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) 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.  (b) 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.  (c) 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'.

Concept: 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.

State PCS 2023 Q78 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2023 Q78 — Polity & Governance PYQ with Answer