Formation of Law Commission remains a non-starter

Bhubaneswar: Even though more than one year has passed to the declaration, the Odisha government is yet to set up a Law Commission to examine all the existing laws and suggest modifications.

Notably, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had made the announcement to set up a Law Commission while addressing the inaugural session of the Lawyers’ Forum of the ruling BJD in November 2015.

“The state government is shortly going to constitute Law Commission in the state. It will examine all the existing laws and suggest modifications, if necessary,” Patnaik had stated.

Following the declaration, the state government had initiated the process and accorded positive nod to such a proposal in February 2016. It had finalized that the Commission would be headed by a retired judge of either the Supreme Court or the High Court.

However, 13 months after the announcement the state government is yet to decide who would head the Commission.

Ironically, while a Law Revision Committee (LRC) exists under the Law Department of the state government, it has been headless since last ten years.

It may be mentioned here that the Union Government has repealed 120 archaic Laws last year, said sources.

Union Government’s Law Commission, Finance Commission, and other agencies have been advising the state government either to do away with or amend certain archaic and not-in-use laws.