Statute commission gets 8 more months to deliver

Statute commission gets 8 more months to deliver
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, FEB 13: In a widely expected move, the Union Cabinet today extended by eight months the term of the National Commission to review the working of the Constitution.

The commission, which is chaired by M.N. Venkatachaliah, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of India, was set up by the ruling NDA Government on February 22 last year for a one-year term. Now with the eight-month extension, the commission will continue till October 31.

The 10-member panel, a statement issued by the government after the Cabinet meeting said, was constituted ``with the mandate to examine in the light of experiences in the last 50 years as to how best the Constitution can respond to the changing needs of efficient, smooth and effective system of governance and the socio-economic development the country within the framework of parliamentary democracy.''

The statement went on to re-emphasise, in the light of criticism from various quarters, that the commission was required ``to recommend changes, if any, that are required in the provisions without interfering with its basic structure or features.''

The commission has already released seven papers for public debate. It proposes to come out with another 13 documents. The paper on indirect elections invited severe criticism from the opposition parties.

In his address to the nation on the eve of the Republic Day, President K.R. Narayanan cautioned against any attempts to tinker with the Constitution which attracted criticism from the ruling BJP. Venkatachaliah, later, clarified that there was no such proposal before the commission.