Here is what you want to know about ‘Odisha Law Commission’

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday said the state government is in the process of setting up a Law Commission to aid and advice in the matter of legal reforms.

“We are in the process of constituting a Law Commission to aid and advice in the matters of legal reform and qualitative legislation relevant to the present day society,” Patnaik said while inaugurating the first state committee meeting of the newly formed BJD Legal Front at party headquarters here.

The BJD president said the process is on to fill up the critical gaps in legal infrastructure facilities especially in remote areas of the state to further the speedy delivery of justice and to facilitate easy access to justice.

Odisha Law Commission

• Odisha Law Commission would be constituted on the lines of the National Law Commission.
• According to sources, the commission will have a term of three years.
• The Law department secretary would be an ex-officio member of the committee while the Advocate General (AG) or any legal luminary nominated by him would be a member of the commission.
• Besides, a legal expert having a minimum of 20 years of experience in legal service would be a member
• A joint secretary level officer having knowledge of revenue, law and administration and a serving or retired professor of a state or national law university will be members of the commission
• The Law Commission would recommend correction of loopholes in the existing laws, deleting obsolete laws, drafting of new laws for the effective functioning of governance.
• Besides, it would provide assistance to the state legislature in drafting laws, suggesting steps for administrative reforms and providing suggestions for settlement of inter-state disputes.
• Sources said the first Law Commission was established during the British rule in 1834 by the Charter Act of 1833. Three more commissions were established in pre-independent India.
• The first Law Commission of independent India was established in 1955 for a three-year term. Since then, twenty more commissions have been established.