Equal Opportunity Commission may get powers to enforce orders

NEW DELHI: The government is considering the possibility of arming the Equal Opportunity Commission with powers to enforce its orders. Minister of state for minority affairs Salman Khurshid will be meeting professor N Madhava Menon, who headed the expert group, to discuss the issue. The ambit of the Commission will also be discussed at the meeting. Once the issues of sectoral ambit and enforceability are resolved, the proposal will be taken up for approval by the Cabinet.

In its current form, the proposed Commission has been given the powers of a civil court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, for inquiries and investigations. It does not have penal powers. Mr Khurshid would like to explore the possibility of providing the Commission with the powers to enforce its orders.

���The expert group headed by Mr Menon was not clear on this issue. We will look into the practices of the countries that have functioning Equal Opportunity Commission. I will be discussing the matter with prof Menon when I meet him next week,��� Mr Khurshid said.

In its report, the expert committee had suggested that the Commission needs the powers of a civil court, but not penal powers, for its inquiries and investigations. The report states that ���the impact and the efficacy of EOC would depend mainly on its ability to influence public opinion and provide credible evidence.

Accordingly, the proposed EOC would have the power to announce codes of good practice, standard powers of a civil court relating to inquiries, power to provide legal assistance to complainants and engage legal counsel, power to demand information and to inspect records and power to require compliance of equal opportunity practice codes���.
The other issue that will be up for discussion is the sectoral ambit of the Commission.

���There is a view that we should restrict it to few sectors in the beginning before expanding the scope while some others feel that we should broadbase the scope of the Commission,��� the minister said. For now, Mr Khurshid says he is keeping an open mind. However, there appears to be a preference for restricting the Commission���s ambit to employment, education and housing.

Sources argued given that there is no scientific data available in the country, broadbasing the Commission���s ambit may not be a good idea. ���It might be better to restrict it to key areas and build the requisite expertise, research and database, before increasing its ambit,��� a ministry official said.

The Equal Opportunity Commission had run into rough weather with objections being raised by key ministries on the viability of the Commission, especially on its power to monitor the private sector and possible duplication. Mr Khurshid has argued that since the Commission is about setting standards in public realm, it would be meaningless to leave the private sector out.

On the issue of possible duplication, the minister has indicated willingness to work out some mechanism to delineate spheres of influence. Mr Khurshid said: ���We have put our view forward and now the matter can be discussed in the Cabinet.���