The Centre has appointed Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy, a retired judge of the Supreme Court as chairperson of the 19th Law Commission, which will have a tenure up to August 31, 2012. Though the commission was re-constituted in September last, the chairperson and members were not appointed.
A non-statutory body, it was first constituted in 1955 and has been reconstituted every three years. The tenure of the last panel ended on August 31. It was headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan.
The members of the new panel will be appointed later.
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In the past 54 years, the commission submitted 234 reports and 225 of them were laid before Parliament. Apart from the chairperson, it consists of three full-time members, a member-secretary and three or more part-time members, depending on the nature of the topics referred to it for study.
The terms of reference would include identification of laws that would be in harmony with the existing climate of economic globalisation, exploration of suitable measures for equitable redressal of citizens' grievances relating to the field of law, and examination of laws that affect the poor and carrying out audit for socio-economic legislation.
It would also examine existing laws with a view to promoting gender equality, study the impact of globalisation on food security, unemployment and recommend measures for protecting the interests of the marginalised. It would seek to harness legal process in the service of the poor for elimination of delays, speedy clearance of arrears of cases and reduction in costs.
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