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UPPCS Polity Gap Sheet: Statutory and Executive Bodies.
UPPCS has asked 18 of these. 6 have not been asked yet. Lock the first list, then read the second: it holds what UPPCS has not used yet.
First, the concept
Two kinds of non-constitutional bodies. Statutory bodies are made by an Act of Parliament (NHRC, CIC, CVC, Lokpal, NCW, NGT). Executive bodies are made by a government resolution and can be ended the same way (NITI Aayog, Planning Commission, NDC, CBI).
UPPCS asks three things: the year and Act, who chairs or selects, and whether the body is constitutional, statutory or executive.
✅ Already asked (18)
Planning bodies
- Planning Commission (15 March 1950) · Cabinet resolution; PM chaired; ended 2014
- National Development Council (1952) · PM, Union Ministers, all Chief Ministers; approved the Plans
- NITI Aayog (1 January 2015) · Executive body; PM chairs; a think tank, not a fund-giver
- Zonal Councils (1956) · Statutory, States Reorganisation Act; Union Home Minister chairs; North Eastern Council separate (1971)
Rights and information
- National Human Rights Commission (12 October 1993) · Protection of Human Rights Act 1993; chairperson a former Chief Justice or Supreme Court judge; first Ranganath Misra
- NHRC selection and limits · Chosen by a panel led by the PM; recommendations not binding; cannot look at cases older than one year
- Central Information Commission (2005) · Right to Information Act; CIC and up to 10 Commissioners; first CIC Wajahat Habibullah
- National Commission for Minorities (1992 Act) · Six notified minorities: Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Jains (Jains added 2014)
- National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (2007) · Under the CPCR Act 2005
Anti-corruption and investigation
- Central Vigilance Commission (1964) · Santhanam Committee; statutory by the CVC Act 2003 (after Vineet Narain, 1997)
- CBI (1963) · Home Ministry resolution; powers from the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act 1946; director chosen by PM, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Justice
- Lokpal (Act 2013; in force 2014) · Chairperson and up to eight members, half judicial; first chairperson Pinaki Chandra Ghose (2019)
- Lokayukta · Idea from the first ARC (1966); Maharashtra first (1971); UP Lokayukta Act 1975
Other bodies
- Law Commission · Executive body, three-year terms; first after independence under M. C. Setalvad (1955)
- Delimitation Commission · Statutory; its orders cannot be challenged in court; set up 1952, 1963, 1973, 2002 (Kuldip Singh)
- National Green Tribunal (2010) · NGT Act 2010; Principal Bench in Delhi
- National Disaster Management Authority (2005) · Disaster Management Act 2005; PM chairs
- Press Council of India (1966) · Statutory; chaired by a retired Supreme Court judge
❌ Not asked yet (6)
Items marked 'asked in other exams' have come in UPSC or other state exams, not yet in UPPCS.
🔒 6 items not asked yet
Planning bodies: 1 · Rights and information: 3 · Anti-corruption and investigation: 1 · Other bodies: 1
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⚠️ The CBI is not a statutory body; it was set up by a resolution and draws its powers from the DSPE Act 1946. NHRC advice is not binding. NITI Aayog replaced the Planning Commission; neither is in the Constitution.
'Asked' and 'not asked' are checked against every UPPCS question on this site. 'Not asked yet' does not mean it will surely come.