Regulatory and Quasi-judicial bodies

Introduction

For any government to perform its duties it requires certain bodies; these bodies can be classified into different categories based on certain criteria. For instance, the broadest division of classification is constitutional and non-constitutional bodies. Constitutional bodies are formed via the provisions mentioned in the constitution. On the other hand, the Non-constitutional bodies are those that don’t appear in the constitution and derive their power from executive resolutions passed in the parliament or the laws that are passed by the parliament that means the statues that are passed. so, we can infer that the non-constitutional bodies based on how it derives its power are further classified into two categories that are as follows – statutory bodies and non-statutory bodies. Statutory Bodies derive their power from statues. Some of the statutory bodies are National Human Rights Commission, National Investigation Agency. While the Non -Constitutional Bodies get their power from executive orders like the NITI Aayog the think tank of India.

Further the statutory bodies are classified into main classes these are as follows-:

1. Regulatory Bodies 
2. Quasi -Judicial Bodies

Regulatory Bodies 

Regulatory bodies as name suggests play a regulatory role they are independent bodies that are formed by a legislative act (statue) to set certain standards in different field and further perform different operations to enforce those standards , to do regular inspection to check with the regulatory compliance of the standards , to provide licensing based on the regulatory compliance , to review and asses the standards in comparison to current trends and later to perform corrective actions in case  of lack of conformity with the prescribed norms. 

Some Examples of Regulatory Bodies and Their Functions-

1. Reserve bank of India (RBI) – It is the Central Bank of India and a regulatory body as well. Its headquarters is in Mumbai and was founded on 1st April ,1935 in Kolkata. Its principle function is regulation of the Indian banking system.(RBI Act 1951)
2. Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI)- It is a statutory body which is present under the Ministry of Health and Family welfare. It was established by the Food Safety and Standards Act ,2006. Its principle aim is to set up standards for different food at various levels like its manufacture, storage, distribution, sale etc
3. Security and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) – It is a regulatory body for securities and commodity market. It comes under the Ministry of Finance. It was established under the SEBI Act of 1992.
4. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) – Its main agenda is the regulation of regional rural banks and cooperative banks. It is under the Ministry of Finance. It also works on providing credit for enhancing the agriculture sector and to various small-scale industries.

Quasi- judicial bodies 

 As the word quasi means semi or partially. Similarly, it is the work of quasi – judicial bodies.

These are those bodies which have partial judicial character in the form of right to hold hearings and conduct investigations.

The quasi-judicial body can be an individual or body having powers similar to that of the court. They can adjudicate a case and decide the penalty for the guilty. They are different from judicial bodies in the fact that they don’t follow the strict judicial rules of evidence, they can’t make new laws but have to act based on the conclusions from existing laws, Unlike Judicial bodies in the country like the Supreme Court, High court and District Court that work on strict rules like the CRPC and CPC. These bodies are not following the rules completely.

Some of the quasi-judicial bodies are as follows-:

1. National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) -It is a statutory body formed on 12th October, 1993.It has its headquarters at New Delhi. The agenda of this body is to inquire into complaints of human rights violation or negligence.
2. National Green Tribunal (NGT) -It was established by the National Green Tribunal Act of 2010. It is a special tribunal made to look into cases concerned with the environment, forest and speed up decisions in the issues. India is the third country to have such a body. 
3. Central Information Commission (CIC) – It is a statutory body found under the Right to Information Act ,2005. It is made to act on complaints on matters of misleading or incomplete information given or who has not received a response etc. While inquiring, it has the power of a civil court.
4. National company law tribunal-It is a quasi-judicial body that was founded on 1st June ,2016. It has its headquarters at New Delhi. It adjudicates issues related to Indian companies, basically the corporate disputes under the Companies act.

Regulatory compliance

The word compliance means conforming to a given set of standards, rules or regulations. For e.g. If FSSAI sets a standard of salt content in butter should not exceed say suppose 3% then the butter manufacturers ensure that the salt in the butter doesn’t exceed the given standard. Thus, adhering to the given standard, setting up a regulatory body in the given sector is defined as regulatory compliance.

Further on complying with the standard, the company gets a license to sell the given product. 

In India regulatory compliance takes place at three levels: the central, state and local level. The compliance standards change based on the dynamics of the environment and also based on the industry. The broad categories are – economic regulation, regulation with respect to public interest and environment regulations.

As per reports, India is poor in complying to the standards. It has been found that only 65 % of companies comply with norms.

Conclusion

Regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies are crucial for proper functioning of the government. They play an integral role in making every sector of the government robust.