Statutory body
Topic: Statutory, Regulatory and Quasi-judicial Bodies · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
A statutory body is created by an Act of Parliament or of a state legislature. The Act sets out how the body is formed, how long its members serve and what it can do. If the Act is amended, all of these can change. So a statutory body is less independent than a constitutional body, but harder to change than a body set up by a government order.
Example
The NHRC, the Central Information Commission, the Lokpal, the National Commission for Women and SEBI are all statutory bodies. The CVC became statutory through the CVC Act 2003. In 2019, amendments to the RTI Act and the Protection of Human Rights Act gave the executive the power to set tenure and salaries. This shows how amending the parent Act can weaken a statutory body.
Don't confuse with
- Constitutional body: it is set up by the Constitution itself, such as the ECI, the CAG and the UPSC. Changing it needs a constitutional amendment, not just an amendment to an ordinary Act.
- Executive body: it is set up by a government resolution, such as NITI Aayog. No Act of the legislature is involved.