Reports of Public Service Commissions

Article 323, Constitution of India 1950

(1) It shall be the duty of the Union Commission to present annually to the President a report as to the work done by the Commission and on receipt of such report the President shall cause a copy thereof together with a memorandum explaining, as respects the cases, if any, where the advice of the Commission was not accepted, the reasons for such non-acceptance to be laid before each House of Parliament.

(2) It shall be the duty of a State Commission to present annually to the Governor or Rajpramukh of the State a report as to the work done by the Commission, and it shall be the duty of a Joint Commission to present annually to the Governor or Rajpramukh of each of the States the needs of which are served by the Joint Commission a report as to the work done by the Commission in relation to that State, and in either case the Governor or Rajpramukh, as the case may be, shall, on receipt of such report, cause a copy thereof together with a memorandum explaining, as respects the cases, if any, where the advice of the Commission was not accepted, the reasons for such non-acceptance to be laid before the Legislature of the State.

Draft Article 288A (Article 323 of Constitution of India 1950) was not included in the Draft Constitution 1948. It was introduced by the Drafting Committee Chairman on 23 August 1949. Draft Article 288A stated that the Union and State Public Service Commissions must submit an annual report to the President or Governor with details of the work done by the Commission in that year. The President or Governor would then submit the report to the Parliament or State Legislature with an explanation if any advice of the Commission was not accepted.

A Member supported the inclusion of this Draft Article as he believed it was important for the members of Parliament and the general public should know what the recommendations of the Commission was and why they were rejected. Another Member moved an amendement that would require the Commission to submit a report to the Legislature every year on the reasons for non-acceptance of its suggestion by the Government. He  felt that this amendment would help Parliament criticise the actions of the executive if the executive arbitrarily disregards the advice of the Commission.

Another Member remarked that even before the Constitution comes into force, the provisions of this Draft Article must be followed – the recommendations of the Federal Services Commission must be accepted or a reasonable explanation should be provided for its rejection.

Draft Article 288A was adopted on the same day without any amendment.