Union Cabinet approves creation of 22nd Law Commission
New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the constitution of the 22nd Law Commission which advises the government on complex legal issues.
The term of the previous law panel had ended on August 31 last year.
With the cabinet approval, the law ministry will now notify the new panel, which will have a term of three years.
The panel will have a full-time chairperson, four full-time members (including a member secretary), and law and legislative secretaries in the law ministry as ex-officio members.
"It will also have not more than five part-time members," an official statement said.
Usually, a retired Supreme Court judge or chief justice of a high court heads the Commission.
The Commission was originally constituted in 1955 and is re-constituted every three years.
The various law commissions have so far submitted 277 reports.
The 21st Law Commission, under Justice B S Chauhan (retd), had submitted reports and working papers on key issues such as simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies and a uniform civil code. While this Commission had supported simultaneous polls, it had said time was not ripe for a common code.
In 2015, a proposal was mooted to make the law panel into a permanent body either through an Act of Parliament or an executive order (resolution of the Union Cabinet). The move was, however, shelved after the Prime Minister's Office felt that the present system should continue.
In 2010 too, the then UPA government had prepared a draft cabinet note to give statutory status to the Law Commission and the law ministry had mooted to bring the Law Commission of India Bill, 2010. But the idea was again shelved.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah slams 'evil forces' for misleading claims in mining lease row
Bengaluru, Apr 9 (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday alleged that several attempts were being made by "evil forces" to create confusion over the renewal of mining leases.
His statement came after activist H Ramamurthy approached Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, seeking a sanction to prosecute the Chief Minister in a mining-related case.
Ramamurthy claimed that mining approvals were granted at throwaway prices to nine firms involved in illegal mining, resulting in a loss of over Rs 5,000 crore to the state exchequer.
“It has come to light that in 2015, during his tenure, Sri Siddaramaiah allegedly granted ‘in-principle approval’ and deemed extension to nine private firms engaged in illegal mining,” the activist claimed.
“The renewal of these licences was reportedly done at throwaway prices, causing a significant loss of over Rs 5,000 crore to the state exchequer,” he added.
In response, Siddaramaiah said in a statement that multiple attempts had been made to create confusion over the mining lease renewal issue.
“Such misinformation has been circulating since I assumed office. Certain malicious forces are continuously trying to mislead the Raj Bhavan,” he alleged.
Under the MMDR Act, 1957—as it existed prior to 2015—lease renewals were applicable for 20 years. As per this provision, the government had granted only conditional in-principle approvals to obtain forest clearance for the renewal of mining leases, Siddaramaiah explained.
He added that on April 12, 2015, the central government amended the MMDR Act through an ordinance.
Following several stages of verification, it was concluded that the conditional approval letters issued to eight companies on February 9, 2015, for lease renewals were not valid.
These approvals were subsequently cancelled, and action was taken in accordance with the amended Act.
Siddaramaiah said that after reviewing the deemed extension proposals submitted by the Mines Department, the state government cancelled one case without considering it for a deemed extension, in accordance with a Supreme Court order.
In the remaining seven cases, deemed extension letters were issued with conditions—including submission of statutory forest and environmental clearances, a no-dues certificate, and compliance with the government's decision based on final investigation reports by agencies such as the CBI and the Special Investigation Team on illegal mining.
"Of these seven companies, two were not granted mining rights as they failed to submit the required statutory documents. Of the remaining five, three were granted mining lease rights during the BJP regime in 2020 and 2021," the Chief Minister added.
The remaining two cases were granted conditional deemed extension of mining lease rights through supplementary agreements in 2016 and 2018, he added.
“Therefore, in all these eight cases, the government did not incur any financial loss. Not a single piece of ore was extracted during this period,” Siddaramaiah said.
The Chief Minister claimed that similar cases had earlier been filed by opposition parties and individuals in various forums, but the complaints were closed as they were found to be baseless.
“After about 10 years, this case is being exhumed with political malice. I appeal to the intelligent people of the country not to believe the evil political conspiracies that are trying to poison their minds over a matter that has no substance,” he said in the statement.
