Kerala to appoint Law Commission soon

Kerala to appoint Law Commission soon
K S SUDHI

KOCHI, FEBRUARY 23: Even as the controversy over the review of the Constitution is raging countrywide, the Kerala government is to soon appoint a Law Commission for revamping and repealing obsolete laws.

The proposed three-member Law Commission is to be headed by state Lok Ayukta Justice P C Balakrishna Menon. The Commission will have the two Upa Lok Ayuktas, Justice T V Ramakrishnan and Justice Bhaskaran Nambiar, as its members.

It is for the first time that such a Commission is appointed for the comprehensive revamping of the old and outdated laws in the state.

The Commission's main assignment would be to revamp the existing laws which have failed to meet the demands of the time and society to repeal the obsolete laws.

The guiding principle of the Commission would be to keep the state laws abreast with the changed socio-economic realities of the state while suggesting new laws to suit the demands of the modern society.

The Commission will have two law officers for the ground work and research activities it has to undertake. The Lok Ayukta is understood to have conveyed his willingness for taking up the task as an additional work of the Lok Ayukta and that too without incurring any additional expense.

All the statutes applicable to the state and all state-made amendments for Central legislations would be scrutinised by the Commission.

This includes all civil and property laws, land reform and rent control laws and laws covering civic bodies besides other state laws.

The law officers will first carry-out a comprehensive scrutiny of the laws that are to be repealed and revamped and will file a report to the Commission. The Commission, while going through the report, will also search for the areas where new laws are necessary and will draft required laws. The final amendments would be drafted by the Commission.

Meanwhile, the state government is yet to decide on the terms of reference of the Commission. The government is understood to have approached the Himachal Pradesh Government, which was the first to constitute a similar state commission in the country, for the terms of reference it had earlier fixed for the Commission.

The terms of reference of the state Commission is expected to be drawn on the lines of Himachal Commission while keeping in mind the Kerala-specific social and economic situations. It may be recalled that it was also from the Himachal Lok Ayukta legislation that the state took leaf for framing its own act.

The Himachal Commission also had a Kerala connection through Justice Balakrishna Menon, the former Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh, who also headed the Himachal Commission. The Himachal Commission had also proposed 15 new legislations while repealing a few others.

Even after 43 years of the formation of the state, scores of laws which were even framed even during the British rule, are still in force in Kerala. Still worse is some other laws which are applicable in some specific areas of the state. The Madras Commercial Crops Market Act applicable only to Palakkad, the Travancore-Cochin Medical Practitioners Act which is relevant only in Malabar area and the Travancore-Cochin Literary, Scientific and Charitable Societies Registration Act, 1955 governing Travancore are some of the few acts which have only region-wise application in the state.

Though many of the neighbouring states have moved ahead by updating their laws with the changed social realities, many of the original laws dating back to even 1930 are still in force in Kerala. Though the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act 1935 still governs the Hindu temples in Malabar region, the law was amended in Madras much earlier.

The Madras Betting Tax Act, 1935, the Travancore Prevention of Beggars Act of Malayalam year 1120, the Travancore-Cochin Registration of Birth and Death Act 1953 and the Opium and Dangerous Drugs Amendment Act of 1940 are some of the outdated, thought still in force, laws in the state.