slir no!i or i~  tile commissions of inquiry (amendment) bill, 1969a bill h,: -' to amend the commissions of inquiry act, 1952 :bt: it enacted by parliament in the twentieth year of the ftepublic of india as follows:-l this act may be called the commissions of inquiry (amendment) short ~1~ ~ 80 of 1912, s z in section 3 of the commissions of inquiry ad, 1952 (hereinafter amendreferred to as the principal act), after sub-sedion (2), the following subment of leetion shall be inserted, namely:-section s "f3~ the appropriate government may, at any s~e of an inquiry by the commislrion,-10 <a) fill any vacancy whic'h may have arisen in the office of a member of the commission (whether consistin, of one or more than one member): or (b) increase the number of members of the commission" 3 in section" of the principal act, in clause (a), for the words "sum-amend-is" iiiddmg 'iib eiii~rcln, the attendarice of rdiy p~on" (h'e wotas "iulllinon- me'rtt ot ~'del emoreing the adt,liiclance ofatit ~d from ally iulri' o'f' the section • territories to which this a~t extends'" shall tie itihsfiiuted  amendment of section 5 4 in section 5 of the principal act, in sub-section (2), the words and figures "and any person so required shah be deemed to be legally bound to furnish such information within the meaning of section 176 of the indian penal code" shall be inserted at the end 5 after section 5 of the prinripal ad, the following seetion shall be s inserted, namely:-insertion of new section 5a "sa (1) the commission may, for the purpose of conduding any inverstigation pertaining to the inquiry, utilise the services of any oftlcer or investigation agency,-(a) in the ease of a commission appointed by the central 10 government, of the central government, or (b) in the ease of a commission appointed by the state go,,-emment, of the state government, with the concurrence of the central government or the state government, as the ease may, be 1$ power of commission to utilise the services of certain officers and investigation agencies for conductinj inveatieation pertaintng to inquiry, (%) the omcer or agency whose services are utilised under subsedion (1) shall investigate into any matter pertaining to the inquiry and submit a report thereon (hereafter in this section referred to as the investigation report) to the commiuion within such period as may be speeified by the commission in this behalf 20 (3) the commission shan satisfy itself about the correctness of the fads stated and the conclusions, if any, arrived at in the investigation report tmbmitted to it under sub-section (2) and for this purpose the coldjllission may make such inquiry (including the examl-dation of the penon or persons who conducted, or assisted ba the 2' investiption) as it deems ftt" 6 after section 6 of the principal act, the following section shall ~e inserted, namely:-insertion of new eetion sa u6a nothing in this act shall be deemed to compel any person giving evidence before the commission to disclose any secret process 30 of manufacture of any goods" perllodb not ob-hged to disclose eeret procen of mllllutacture bt good • 7 in section 80f the principal act, the words "and may act potwith standing the temporary absence of any member or the existence qt· a vacancy among its members" shall be omitted amendment of section 8  th& c or·miss iond of ii'tquiry (amendlvjent) bill, 1 91 1t 0 belas in trodllced in lok sabha) 1 page 1, 1 ine 1 2 , -before "or" ij2! ": 11 ~ 1111 - 2 page 2, against line ir ~ert in the margin-"45 of 1860" 3 page 2, line 8,-i:2i "inve rs t ica t ion" read ---" investigation" 4 page 2, line 15,-ii ii i afte r ii may" omit -5 page 3, line 17,-~rter ii in3erted" ~sert " " , 6 £age 3, line 25 r -!<l£ "affence" read "offence" -7 page 3, line 31,'; qefgre " or" "  " - "  i' - 8 fage" line 15  !2! "1 962" ~ "1952" 9 page 6, 1 ine 37,-~ "this" ~ "the" 10 oorrect line numbers on page 3 ,, tuab __ 8 after section 8 of the principal act, the following section &hall be iuserinserted, namely: -tion of new section ba "8a (1) where the commission consists of two or more mem- bers, it may act notwithstanding the absence of the chah'man ol' any other member or any vacancy among its members: 5 inquiry not to be interrupted by rea-provided that if the appropriate government notifies the commission that the services of the chairman have ceased to be available, the commission shall not act until a new chairman is appointed 10 bon at vacancy or change in the constitution at commission (2) ~here during the course of an inquiry before a commission, a change has taken place in the constitution of the commission by reason of any wcancy having been filled or by an increase in the number of members of the commission or by any other reason, it shall not be necessary for the commission to commence the inquiry afresh and the inquiry may be ~ontinued from the stage at which the change took place" is 8 after section 10 of the principal act, the following section shall be inserinserted namely:-tion ot new lection loa 20 "loa (1) if any person, by words either spoken or intended to be read, makes or publishes any s1jatement or does any other act, which is calculated to bring the commission or any member thereof iuto disrepute, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both penalty tor acts calculated to bring the commission or any member thereot into disrepute  a of 1818(2) the provisions of section 198b of the code of criminal pro-cedure, 1898 shall apply in relation to an offence under sub-section (1) as they apply in relation to an affence referred to in sub-section (1) of the said section 198b, subject to the modification that no complaint in respect of such offence shall be made by the public prosecutor except with the previous sanction,-(a) in the case of a commission, or member of a commis-30 sion, appointed by the central government, of the central government: or (b) in the case of a commission, or member of a commis-sion, appointed by the state government, of the state government" 10 in section 12 of the principal act, after sub-section (2), the follow-amend-35 ing sub-section shall be inserted, namely: -ment of section 12 "(3) every rule made by the central government under this section shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made, before each house of parliament while it is in session for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two successive sessions and if before the expiry of the session in which it is fkj laid or the session immediately following both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both hcluses agree that the rule should ~t be ~~~, :~e rule s~l ~~re~~ h~v~ ~ o~lx ~ ~~ jn~pi  fied form or be of no effect, as the case may be, so jiqw:~ver,·fijat ~, such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice'to tli~ validity of anything previously done under that rule" 11 the principaj act shall, as from the commencement of this act, s extend to, and come into force in, the kohima and mokokehung di"strict& in the state (if nagaland  extension of act 60 of 1952 to kohima and mokokchung districts in nasaland  statement of objects nnd reasons~~rta~ dtflicul~~es ~<;l 4eftcienc~~ experience~ ~ t11:e wor~~g of the commissions of inquiry act, 1~2 were referred to the lawc9p1jp~ion for suggesting suitable amendments to the act taking into account the impor~e of the act and tbeneeci f<1r a propersy~tetd of inquiziu, the law commission underook a comprehensive exmination oftae enti1-e act and made a number of recommendations ill tb,eir ·twedtyj'~  port fat th~ revision of the act in several respects 2 t~jp8in )"ttc9mtr\~npatio~ of t1;l,e 4,,,, cd~~n ~\l'~b~~ been accepted by government after c~,,~ring ~ views ~~  ~ those recommendations:by the state governments, union territory administrations and the' ministries of the government of india tile bill se'~ksto give effect to such recomme~ations of the law cmnnfs,stot1 ' as are acc~ptable   3 though the commissions of inquiry act, 1962 has been inbca in the tuensang disirict in the state of nagaland, it has not been ~tedfw to the otl)er two districts of kobima and uokokehudg in iilat staie ifhe bill also leekato extend the act to these two disttit:ts 4tnt! nq~s on cla~~ ~plain in cietail the pr9~~1l$ at tb, aal· new delhi; the i4th octob,er, 196~ y b ch~ van (in these notes, the expression "report" means the twemy-fourth report c1j the law commission of india on the commilbions of inquiry act, 1952) clauh 2-judging from the experience ga~ed in the working of the commiuions of inquiry act, 1952, it is considered desirable to provide expressly for the fuling up of vacancies in the membership of the commission and for increase in the number of members thereof, whenever the government thinks it necessary or expedient to do so the clause seeks to insert a new sub-section to section 3 of the act for tbe purpose (vide paragrapb26 of the report) \ claule 3-section 4 of the act au tborises the commission to summon and enforce the attendance of any person it does not, however, specify the territorial jurisdiction for the commission in this behalf and, consequentially, it may be argued that the restriction under order xvi, rule 19 of the code of civil procedure, 1908, would be attracted, since, under sectiuil 4, a commission, in summoning witnesses, has the same powers as - civil court in view of the different nature of the work assigned to a commisskm of inquiry, it is considered that this restriction should not apply to commissions appointed under tbe act the clause seeks to amend section 4 suitably so as to empower the commission to summon ond enforce the attendance of any person from any part of the territories to which the act extends (vide paragraph 27 of the report) clause 4-this clause seeks to amend sub-section (2) of section 5 of the act casting an obligation on the person, required by the commission to furnish any information under that sub-section, to furnish such information (vide paragraph 28 of the report) clause 5-this clause seeks to insert a new section 5a in the act under this new section, the commission is empowered to utiliae the services of any officer or investigation agency of the central government (in the case of a commission appointed by the central government) or of the state government (in the case of a commission appointed by the state government) provision has also been made to the effect that the officer or agency, whose services are utilised, shall investigate into any matter pertaining to an inquiry and submit a report thereon to the commission within such period as may be specified by the commission in this behalf this section further provides that the commission shall satisfy itself about the correctness of the facts stated and the conclusions, if any arrived at in the report and for this purpose the commission may make such inquiry (including the examination of the person or persons who conducted, or assisted in, the investigation), as it deems fit (vide paragraph 17 of the report) c1ause 6-it is considered desirable to make it clear, in the interests of trade, that nothing in the act shall render it compulsory for any person giving evidence to disclose any secret process of manufacture of any goods the clause seeks to insert a new section 6a in the act for the purpose (vide paragraph 32 of the report) clauses 7 and a-clause 8 seeks to insert a new section sa in the act providing that an inquiry shall not be interrupted by reason of vacancy or change in the constitution of the commission provision has also been made to the effect that if the services of the chairman have ceased to be available, the commission shall not act until a new chairman is appointed (vide parai!aph 34 of the report) the amendment made to section 8 of the act by clause 7 is a consequential one clause 9-this clause seeks to insert 'a new section loa in the act providing for a penalty for acts calculated to bring the commi8l~ or any member thereof into disrepute the penalty proposed is imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or fine ar both the provisions of section 198b of the code of criminal procedure, 1898 have been made applicable to en offence under this new section subject to the j1lodification that no complaint in respect of such offence shall be made by the public prosecutor except with the previous sanction of the appropriate cktvernment (vide paragraph 31) of the report) clause io-this clause seeks to insert a new lub-section to section 12 of the act making provision for the laying of rules made under the act before ~r1iament  clause n-the commissions of inquiry act, 1952 does not extend to the districts of kohima and mokokchung in the state of nagaland though it extends to the tuensang district in that state the clause seeks to extend the act to the aforesaid kohima and mokokchung districts also , claus, 2 tif ~~ ~11' 9ee~' to empower c;ovenirlie~~:, lit', any ,~, of il1tt~ hy a cdinnttsaustl, to int!n!8~ the number ot nu!mbers of tti~ earnuiiwtdi[ such- irtcwtie as arid when made in respect of: a cori'lii1i~dn appointed by the central government will entau extra expenditure from ~be consolidated fund of india government would ordinarily determine the compo~iiion of a commission well before the commencement ot tbp inquiry ~ it may norma1jy not be necessary for thehl to increase th'e numoer or members of a ccitninission after the hitter lias commenced its b)4ui¥y the provi&ion is more in the nature of an ~iia'6llhg power which may h~ve to be used in exceptionaj circumstances the extra experlthture idvolvea will dbpeild oil tfle nllture and dltrati6f1 of' t1i@ iitqtiit1 the huil-vidlt~l who may be selected tot appointment as additional rlierli~r lirid tfie remuiieration to be ftle'ecl' fot hitn as a member of' die cofturtisst'ott of inquiry 2 eja~ 3 df th~ bih' seeb m empower a ~ of idquiry to aumtilbrl' awl edlbrbe' tk~ atwddaiiee of any ~' 88 - ~  , trglll' , part or india this may call for some extra expenditure 011 the ji'wiit" of travelling and daily allowances to witnesses 3:' ~'5'6f the'bill-mks·to t!m~r a;commtaattjri of'lnqlik'y to'uti-b(f~~ of ~ili' dtieetw and ihvmtlllltton ,ehcleir for eondbetidg in~gwtm pei"taijihig to'iln itfqutry sudh a_ranee may posatbly be made a',ailable to the commission without entailing any extra expenditure depending upon the nature and duration of the investigation required, occasions could, however, arise when it may become necessary to incur extra expenditure on the appointment of, or replacement for, the officers whose services are made available to the commissions of inquiry   4 no accurate estimate can be made of the extra expenditure from the consolidated fund of india which may result from the proposed amendments it is, in any case, not likely to exceed rupees one lakb a year no non-recurring expenditure is involved, - i"  annexure extracts from the commissions of inquiry act 1952 i(60 of 1952) - - - - - - 5 of 1908 4 the commission shall have the powers of a civil court, while try- powera inga suit under the code of civil procedure, 1908, in respect of the 101- of comlowing matters, namely: -miaaion (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of any peraon and examiriing him on oath; - - - - - 5 (1) - - - - - additiodal powera of comm'ioa (2) the commission shall have power to require any pe1'ioll, subject to any privilege which may be claimed by that person under any law for the time being in force, to furnish information on such points or matters as, in the opinion of the commission, may be useful for, or relevant to, the subject matter of the inquiry  - - - - - - 8 the commission shall, subject to any rules that may be made in thli procebehalf, have power to regulate its own procedure (including the 6zidg ::efol~ of places and times of its sittings and deciding whether to lit in public lowed by or in private) and may act notwithltanding the temporary absence of 8dj the commember or the existence of a vacancy among its memberl m'gloa - - - - - - 1  ,j a bul to amend the commissions of inquiry act, [952 ( (s",, yb chauaft, m;,,;,u, of h"", tjj/tiin) 