Law Commission of India: Origin and Evolution

The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory advisory body that the Central Government sets up from time to time, for a fixed term, to study India's laws and recommend reforms. It is not created by an Act of Parliament — it comes into existence through an executive order of the Department of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Law and Justice — and its recommendations are advisory only; the government is free to accept, modify, or ignore them.

Origin: The Colonial-Era Commissions

Law reform through a dedicated commission is not a post-Independence idea. During British rule, four Law Commissions were constituted in the 19th century, and their work left a lasting imprint on the Indian statute book. They studied English legal models and adapted them to Indian conditions, producing several codes that still form the backbone of Indian law today — among them the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Code of Civil Procedure, the Indian Contract Act, the Indian Evidence Act, and the Transfer of Property Act.

Commission	Year Established	Chairman
First Law Commission	1834	Lord Macaulay
Second Law Commission	1853	Sir John Romilly
Third Law Commission	1861	Sir John Romilly
Fourth Law Commission	1879	Dr Whitney Stokes

Establishment After Independence

Article 372 of the Constitution allowed all pre-Constitution laws to continue in force until they were amended or repealed by a competent legislature. This meant independent India inherited a large body of colonial-era law that needed review in light of the new constitutional scheme — particularly the chapters on Fundamental Rights and the Directive Principles of State Policy. Responding to demands from within and outside Parliament for a fresh review of outdated laws, the Government of India constituted the first Law Commission of independent India in 1955. It was given a three-year term and was headed by M.C. Setalvad, who was then serving as Attorney-General of India.

Evolution: Successive Commissions Since 1955

Since 1955, the Law Commission has been reconstituted repeatedly, almost always for a three-year term, with terms of reference set afresh each time by the government of the day. Twenty-two Commissions have been constituted so far, headed at different times by retired judges, senior civil servants, and legal scholars.

Commission	Duration	Chairman
First	1955–1958	M.C. Setalvad
Second	1958–1961	Justice T.V. Venkatarama Aiyar
Third	1961–1964	Justice J.L. Kapur
Fourth	1964–1968	Justice J.L. Kapur
Fifth	1968–1971	K.V.K. Sundaram
Sixth	1971–1974	Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar
Seventh	1974–1977	Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar
Eighth	1977–1979	Justice H.R. Khanna
Ninth	1979–1980	Justice P.V. Dixit
Tenth	1981–1985	Justice K.K. Mathew
Fifteenth	1997–2000	Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy
Twentieth	2012–2015	Justice D.K. Jain, then Justice A.P. Shah
Twenty-First	2015–2018	Justice B.S. Chauhan
Twenty-Second	Constituted Feb 2020	Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi

The twenty-second Commission illustrates how uneven the Commission's continuity can be in practice: it was formally constituted in February 2020, but its chairman and members were appointed only in November 2022 — a gap of over two and a half years. Its original three-year term, due to end in February 2023, was extended by the Union Cabinet up to 31 August 2024.

Across all these Commissions, 277 reports have been submitted to the government to date, covering subjects ranging from criminal law and family law to tribunals, technology, and justice delivery. The 21st Commission (2015–2018) alone submitted reports on subjects as varied as hate speech, bail reform, compulsory registration of marriages, DNA profiling, contempt of court, and wrongful prosecution.

Composition

The Commission's composition is not fixed by any statute and varies from term to term. Typically, it consists of a Chairman, some full-time members, a Member-Secretary, and a number of part-time members, depending on the subjects referred to it.

The Chairman and full-time members are usually serving or retired judges of the Supreme Court or High Courts, or legal experts and law professors.
The Member-Secretary belongs to the Indian Legal Service and holds the rank of Additional Secretary or Secretary to the Government of India.
Part-time members are drawn from eminent members of the bar, academic scholars, or specialists in particular branches of law.

A small permanent staff of research and secretarial personnel supports the Commission's day-to-day functioning.

Functions

The Law Commission's mandate, as it has evolved, covers the following broad functions:

Identifying laws that are no longer needed or relevant and can be repealed.
Reviewing existing laws in light of the Directive Principles of State Policy and suggesting reforms to fulfil constitutional objectives.
Advising the government on any subject relating to law and judicial administration referred to it.
Considering requests for legal research from foreign countries when referred by the government.
Taking measures to make law and the legal process more accessible to the poor.
Revising Central Acts of general importance to simplify them and remove ambiguities and anomalies.

Working

The Commission typically follows a structured process while preparing a report: projects are initiated and priorities fixed in its meetings; research and data collection follow; a working paper outlining the problem is circulated to the public and interested groups for comment; responses are evaluated; and a final report — after close scrutiny by the full Commission — is forwarded to the Ministry of Law and Justice. The Ministry then examines the report in consultation with the concerned administrative ministries before placing it before Parliament.

Role and Significance

The Law Commission gives the government access to specialised, research-backed recommendations without the government having to build permanent in-house legal-research machinery for every issue. It can take up matters on a reference from the Central Government or, in many cases, suo motu. Over the decades, successive Commissions have contributed to reforms aimed at reducing delay in the justice-delivery system, cutting litigation costs, and modernising outdated legislation — while also continuing the historical task, begun by the colonial-era commissions, of consolidating and codifying Indian law.

UPSC Relevance

Prelims

The Law Commission of India is a non-statutory body, constituted by an order of the Central Government, not by an Act of Parliament.
The first Law Commission of independent India was set up in 1955, headed by M.C. Setalvad.
Article 372 relates to the continuance of pre-Constitution laws.
Commonly confused with statutory or constitutional bodies — the Law Commission is neither.

Mains

GS2: Discuss the role of non-statutory advisory bodies like the Law Commission of India in the legislative and law-reform process.
GS2: Evaluate whether the advisory, non-binding character of the Law Commission's recommendations limits its effectiveness as a law-reform institution.

FAQ

Is the Law Commission of India a constitutional or statutory body? Neither. It is a non-statutory body, constituted purely by an executive order of the Central Government, and it has no separate constitutional or legislative backing.

Who headed the first Law Commission of independent India? M.C. Setalvad, then Attorney-General of India, headed the first Law Commission (1955–1958).

Are the Commission's recommendations binding on the government? No. The Law Commission is a recommendatory body; the government may accept, modify, or reject its reports.

How many Law Commissions have been constituted in independent India? Twenty-two Commissions have been constituted since 1955, each generally for a three-year term.

What kind of laws did the pre-Independence Law Commissions produce? The four colonial-era Law Commissions (1834–1879) laid the groundwork for codes such as the Indian Penal Code, the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure, the Indian Contract Act, the Indian Evidence Act, and the Transfer of Property Act.

Quick Revision

Non-statutory, advisory body — constituted by Central Government order, not by statute.
First post-Independence Commission: 1955, chaired by M.C. Setalvad, three-year term.
Pre-Independence Commissions: 1834 (Macaulay), 1853, 1861, 1879 (Whitney Stokes) — four in total.
Twenty-two Commissions constituted so far; 22nd constituted Feb 2020, chaired by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi.
277 reports submitted to the government to date.
Reports go to the Ministry of Law and Justice, which places them before Parliament.
Article 372 kept pre-Constitution laws in force pending review — part of the backdrop for the Commission's post-1955 revival.

Sources

Further Reference

For deeper reading on this topic and the wider polity syllabus, these standard works are recommended:

M. Laxmikanth, Indian Polity (McGraw Hill) — the standard UPSC handbook.
D.D. Basu, Introduction to the Constitution of India (LexisNexis) — authoritative constitutional-law treatment.
The Constitution of India — Bare Act — the official text.

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