Ministry of Law and Justice (India)

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The Ministry of Law and Justice is one of the oldest ministry ¹ of the Govt. of India, having its base in Charter Act 1833 enacted by the British Parliament vested the Legislative power in a single authority the Governor General of India. The Governor General enacted laws for the British India until 1920 when Govt. of India act 1919 replaced the legislative power to the Indian Legislature constituted thereunder. As of May 2008, the ministry is headed by Cabinet Minister H.R. Bhardwaj.

1 Structure
- 1.1 Legislative Department
- 1.2 Department of Legal Affairs
2 References

[edit] Structure

The ministry comprises the following Departments:-

Legislative Department
Department of Legal Affairs

[edit] Legislative Department

The Legislative Department is mainly concerned with drafting of all principal legislation for the Central Government i.e. Bills to be introduced in Parliament, Ordinances to be promulgated by the President, measures to be enacted as President's Acts for States under the President's rule and Regulations to be made by the President for Union territories. It is also concerned with election Laws namely the Representation of the People Act 1950 and the Representation of the People Act 1951. In addition it is also entrusted with task of dealing with certain matters relating to List III of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution like personal law, contracts evidence etc. The responsibility of maintaining up to date the statutes enacted by Parliament is also with this Department.

[edit] Department of Legal Affairs

The Dept. of Legal affairs renders advice to various ministries on legal matters and attends to litigation on behalf of the Government of India in the Courts. The dept. also looks in to matters regarding the treaties with foreign government in matters of civil laws. It further concerns itself with the appointment of Law Officers of the Union of India, namely Attorney General, Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General. This Department administers the:

Advocates Act, 1961,
Notaries Act,1952 and
Legal Services Authorities Act,1987.

Department of Legal Affairs is also administratively in charge of

Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), ITAT is the second level appellate body looking into the litigation and disputes in tax matters arising from the assessments finalised by the departmental officers which are adjudicated first by the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals), being the first level appellate authority.If for any reason either the tax payer or the department is not satisfied by the decision so passed by the Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeals), then they can approach the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.The important distinction between the two authorities is that the Commissioner of Income Tax(Appeal) is under Income Tax Department i.e.the Ministry of Finance while the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal is under Minstry of Law and Justice.
Indian Legal Service and
Law Commission of India.