Keywords : Director, Public Servant, Unfair Practice
Twelfth Kerala Legislative Assembly
Bill No. 124
©
Kerala Legislature Secretariat
2007
KERALA NIYAMASABHA PRINTING PRESS.
THE KERALA WOMEN’S COMMISSION (AMENDMENT)
BILL, 2007
Twelfth Kerala Legislative Assembly
Bill No. 124
THE KERALA WOMEN’S COMMISSION (AMENDMENT)
BILL, 2007
862/2007.
Twelfth Kerala Legislative Assemly
Bill No. 124
THE KERALA WOMEN’S COMMISSION (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2007
A
BILL
further to amend the Kerala Women’s Commission Act, 1991.
Preamble.—WHEREas, it is expedient further to amend the Kerala Women’s
Commission Act, 1991 (17 of 1995) for the purposes hereinafter appearing ;
BE, it enacted in the Fifty-eighth Year of the Republic of India as
follows:—
- Short title and commencement.—(1) This Act may be called the Kerala
Women’s Commission (Amendment) Act, 2007.
(2) It shall be deemed to have come into force on the 24th day of
January, 2007. - Amendment of section 2.—In section 2 of the Kerala Women’s
Commission Act, 1991 (17 of 1995) (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act),
after clause (h), the following clause shall be inserted, namely :—
“(ha) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Commission appointed under
sub-section (1) of section 12 ;”. - Amendment of section 5.—(1) For sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 5
of the principal Act, the following sub-sections shall be substituted, namely :—
“(1) For the purposes of this Act the Government shall, by notification
in the Gazette, constitute a Commission to be known as ‘the Kerala Women’s
Commission’, consisting of the following members, namely:-
(a) a Chairperson, who is committed to the cause of women, with
sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing with women’s problems ;
(b) not more than four other members, of whom one shall be a
person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe ;
(c) the Secretary of the Commission-Member, Ex-officio
(2) The members appointed by the Government under clauses (a) and
(b) shall be women.”.
862/2007.
2 - Amendment of section 6.—In section 6 of the principal Act,—
(i) in sub-section (1), after the words “Every member”, the words
“other than the ex-officio member” shall be inserted;
(ii) in sub-section (2), in the opening portion, after the words “a
member”, the words and punctuation “other than the ex-officio member,” shall be
inserted;
(iii) in sub-section (4), after the opening words “The members”, the
words and punctuation “other than the ex-officio member,” shall be inserted. - Amendment of section 7.—In section 7 of the principal Act, for the
word “two”, the word “four” shall be substituted. - Amendment of section 11.—In section 11 of the principal Act,—(i) the
existing section may be numbered as sub-section (1) of that section and in
sub-section (1) as so numbered, after the opening words “Any member”, the
words and punctuation “other than the ex-officio member,” shall be inserted;
(ii) after sub-section (1) as so numbered, the following sub-section shall be
inserted, namely:—
“(2) The ex-officio member shall hold office during the pleasure of the
Government.” - Amendment of section 12.—In section 12 of the principal Act,—
(i) in sub-section (1), for the opening sentence, the following
sentences shall be substituted, namely:—
“The Government may appoint a Secretary to the Commission, who shall
be the Chief Executive Officer of the Commission. The Government may also
appoint a Director, in consultation with the Commission, for making investigation
for the purposes of this Act.
The Secretary and the Director shall carry out such directions issued by
the Commission, besides the functions conferred on them by this Act.”;
(ii) in sub-section (2), after the words “conditions of service of ”, the
words “ the Secretary and” shall be inserted. - Amendment of section 13.—In section 13 of the principal Act, for the
words “or in respect of the Director”, the words “or in respect of the Secretary,
the Director” shall be substituted. - Amendment of section 21.—In section 21 of the principal Act, for the
words “signature of the Director”, the words “signature of the Secretary” shall
be substituted.
3 - Amendment of section 28.—In section 28 of the principal Act, in
clause (a), for the words “conditions of service of the Director”, the words
“conditions of service of the Secretary, the Director” shall be substituted. - Special provision relating to the existing Commission.—(1)
Notwithstanding anything contained in the principal Act, or in any other law or
in any judgment, decree or order of any court, on and from the date of
commencement of this Act, the Chairperson and members of the existing
Commission constituted under the provisions of the principal Act shall, by virtue
of this Act, be deemed to have vacated their offices as such.
(2) The Chairperson and members of the Commission who have ceased
to hold office, by virtue of this Act, shall be entitled to honorarium and
allowances only for the period for which they had held the office of the
Chairperson or member of the Commission, as the case may be, and they shall
not be entitled to honorarium and allowances or other benefits for the remaining
period of their tenure, if any.
(3) All investigations, inquiries or other proceedings pending before
the Commission on the date of commencement of this Act and which have not
been disposed of, shall stand transferred to, and be continued by the
Commission constituted under the principal Act, as amended by this Act, as if
they were commenced before it. - Repeal and Saving.—(1) The Kerala Women’s Commission
(Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 (42 of 2007) is hereby repealed.
(2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or deemed to have been
done or any action taken or deemed to have been taken under the principal Act
as amended by the said Ordinance shall be deemed to have been done or taken
under the principal Act as amended by this Act.
STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS
A large number of petitions are pending and numerous fresh petitions are
being received by the Kerala Women’s Commission. Due to the inadequacy of
sufficient number of members in the Commission, the sittings of the Commission
at district level are not adequate to deal with the work load. In order to have an
effective intervention of the Commission in women related issues, the Council of
Ministers in its proceedings dated 9-1-2007 decided to enhance the number of
members of the Commission including the Chairperson to six and to make
provision for vacating then existing members of the commission. So also
considering the multifarious activities of the Commission it has decided that the
Secretary of the Commission should be an ex-officio member of the Commission.
Hence it is necessary to amend sections 2, 5, 6, 7, 11, 12, 13, 21 and 28 of the
Kerala Women’s Commission Act, 1991 to give effect to the above legislative
proposals.
4 - As the Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala was not in
session and as the above Legislative proposal had to be given effect to
immediately, the Governor of Kerala promulgated the Kerala Women’s
Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 (1 of 2007) on the 24th day of
January 2007 and the same was published in the Kerala Gazette Extraordianary
No. 140 dated 24th January 2007. - A Bill to replace the Kerala Women’s Commission (Amendment)
Ordinance, 2007 (1 of 2007) could not be introduced in, and passed by the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala during its session which commenced
on the 2nd day of March, 2007 and ended on the 29th day of March, 2007.
Therefore, the Kerala Women’s Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007 (32 of
2007) was promulgated by the Governor on the 30th day of March, 2007 and
was published in the Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No. 637 dated 2nd April 2007. - A Bill to replace the Kerala Women’s Commission (Amendment)
Ordinance, 2007 (32 of 2007) could not be introduced in and passed by the
Legislative Assembly of the State of Kerala during its session which commenced
on the 19th day of June, 2007 and ended on the 26th day of July, 2007.
Therefore, the Kerala Women’s Commission (Amendment) Ordinance, 2007
(42 of 2007) was promulgated by the Governor on the 30th day of July, 2007
and was published in the Kerala Gazette Extraordinary No. 1402 dated 30th
July 2007. - The Bill seeks to replace the said Ordinance by an Act of the State
Legislature.
FINANCIAL MEMORANDUM
Sub-section 4 of section 6 of the Kerala Women’s Commission Act, 1991
(17 of 1995), provides that the Members shall receive a fixed honorarium and
other allowances and shall be governed by the condition of services as may be
prescribed, provided that the fixation of the honorarium shall be without taking
into consideration of the past service rendered by the person in any capacity
before his appointment as a member. The honorarium and other allowances
payable to the Chairperson and members have been fixed as per G. O. (P)
15/2003/SWD dated 16-5-2003 issued as SRO No. 472/2003 published as Gazette
Extraordinary No.903 of 28th May 2003. As per section 5 of the proposed bill,
the Members of the Commission has been increased from three to six, including
the Secretary of the Commission who is Member (Ex-officio). Accordingly the
amount required to pay honorarium and other allowances will also be increased.
The additional expenditure on account of increase in the number of Members
would come to Rs. 9.50 lakhs recurring and Rs. 0.50 lakhs non-recurring.
P. K. SREEMATHI TEACHER
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EXTRACT FROM THE KERALA WOMEN’S COMMISSION
ACT, 1991 (ACT 17 OF 1995)
- Definitions.—In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—
(a) “Commission” means the commission constituted under section 5;
(h) “registered” means registered with the Commission under the Act;
- Constitution of the Commission.—(1) For the purpose of this Act, the
government shall, by notification in the Gazette, constitute a Commission to be
known as the Kerala Women’s Commission which shall consist of a Chairperson
and not more than two other members to be appointed by the government:
Provided that the members appointed to the Commission shall be women.
(2) The Chairperson shall be an eminent woman committed to the cause
of women with sufficient knowledge and experience in dealing with women’s
problems. - Term of office and conditions of service of members.—(1) Every member
shall hold office for a period of five years.
(2) Notwithstanding anything contained-in sub-section (1), a member
may.—
(i) by writing under his hand and addressed to the government resign
his office at any time;
(ii) be removed from his office in accordance with the provisions of
section 11.
(3) A vacancy arising by reason of resignation or removal of any
member of the Commission under sub-section (2) or otherwise shall be filled up
in accordance with the provisions contained in section 5.
(4) The members shall receive a fixed honorarium and other allowances
and shall be governed by such conditions of service, as may be prescribed:
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Provided that the fixation of the honorarium shall be without taking into
consideration the past service rendered by the person in any capacity before his
appointment as a member. - Quorum.—The quorum for a meeting of the Commission shall be two.
- Removal of members from office.—Any member of the Commission may
be removed from office by an order of the Government, if he—
(a) becomes an undischarged insolvent;
(b) is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence which
involves moral turpitude’;
(c) becomes of unsound mind;
(d) refuses to act or becomes incapable of acting;
(e) is without obtaining leave of absence from the Commission absents
from three consecutive meetings of the Commission; or
(f) in the opinion of the Government has so abused the position of
Chairperson or member as to render that person’s continuance in office
detrimental to the public interest:
Provided that a member shall note be removed under this section until that
person has been given a reasonable opportunity of being heard in the matter. - Appointment of Director and other staff of the Commission.—(1) The
Government may, in consultation with the Commission, appoint a Director for
making investigations for the purposes of this Act and to carry out such
directives given to him by the Commission besides the functions conferred on
him by this Act. The Government may appoint such other staff as may be
necessary to assist the Commission by deputation or by direct recruitment and
prescribe their condition of service:
Provided that in the case of direct recruitment, the provisions of rules 14,
15, 16 and 17 of the Kerala State and Subordinate Service Rules, 1958, shall
apply.
(2) The qualifications, term of appointment and other conditions of service
of the Director shall be such as may be prescribed.
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- Provision for salaries, allowances etc.—The honorarium and
allowances payable to the members and the administrative expenses, including
the salaries, allowances and pensions payable to, or in respect of, the Director
and the other staff of the Commission, shall be charged on the Consolidated
Fund of the State.
- Authentication of orders, etc., of the Commission.—All orders and
decisions of, and all other proceedings or instruments; if any, issued by the
Commission shall be authenticated by the signature of the Director or of such
other officer as may be authorised by the Commission in this behalf.
- Power to make rules.—(1) The Government may, by notification in the
Gazette, make rules for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this
Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing
power, such rules may provide for—
(a) the honorarium, allowances and other conditions of service of the
members; the salary, allowances and other conditions of service of the Director
and the other staff of the Commission;
