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CHAPTER
VI
MISCELLANEOUS
18.
Power of Central Government to issue directions
(1)
Without prejudice to the foregoing provisions of this Act, the
Authority shall, in exercise of its powers or the performance of its
functions under this Act, be bound by such directions on questions
of policy, other than those relating to technical and administrative
matters, as the Central Government may give in writing to it from
time to time:
PROVIDED
that the Authority shall, as far as practicable, be given an
opportunity to express its views before any direction is given under
this sub-section.
(2)
The decision of the Central Government, whether a question is one of
policy or not, shall be final.
19.
Power of Central Government to supersede Authority
(1)
If at any time the Central Government is of the opinion--
(a)
that, on account of circumstances beyond the control of the
Authority, it is unable to discharge the functions or perform the
duties imposed on it by or under the provisions of this Act; or
(b)
that the Authority has persistently defaulted in complying
with any direction given by the Central Government under this Act or
in the discharge of the functions or performance of the duties
imposed on it by or under the provisions of this Act and as a result
of such default the financial position of the Authority or the
administration of the Authority has suffered; or
(c)
that circumstances exist which render it necessary in the
public interest so to do,
the Central
Government may, by notification and for reasons to be specified
therein, supersede the Authority for such period, not exceeding six
months, as may be specified in the notification and appoint a person
to be the Controller of Insurance under section 2B of the Insurance
Act, 1938, if not already done:
PROVIDED
that before issuing any such notification, the Central Government
shall give a reasonable opportunity to the Authority to make
representations against the proposed supersession and shall consider
the representations, if any, of the Authority.
(2)
Upon the publication of a notification under sub-section (1)
superseding the Authority,--
(a)
the Chairperson and other members shall, as from the date of
supersession, vacate their offices as such;
(b)
all the powers, functions and duties which may, by or under
the provisions of this Act, be exercised or discharged by or on
behalf of the Authority shall, until the Authority is reconstituted
under sub-section (3), be exercised and discharged by the Controller
of Insurance; and
(c)
all properties owned or controlled by the Authority shall,
until the Authority is reconstituted under sub-sections (3), vest in
the Central Government.
(3)
On or before the expiration of period of supersession specified in
the notification issued under sub-section (1), the Central
Government shall reconstitute the Authority by a fresh appointment
of its Chairperson and other members and in such case any person who
had vacated his office under clause (a) of sub-section (2) shall not
be deemed to be disqualified for reappointment.
(4)
The Central Government shall cause a copy of the notification issued
under sub-section (1) and a full report of any action taken under
this section and the circumstances leading to such action to be laid
before each House of Parliament at the earliest.
COMMENTS
Sec.
2B of the Insurance Act, 1938 provides for the appointment of
Controller of Insurance. Under
that section the Central Government may by notification in the
Official Gazette, appoint a person to be the Controller of Insurance
under this Act.
In
making any appointment under this section, the Central Government
shall have due regard to the following considerations, namely,
whether the person to be appointed has had experience in industrial,
commercial or insurance matters and whether such person has
actuarial qualification.
20.
Furnishing of returns, etc., to Central Government
(1)
The Authority shall furnish to the Central Government at such time
and in such form and manner as may be prescribed, or as the Central
Government may direct to furnish such returns, statements and other
particulars in regard to any proposed or existing programme for the
promotion and development of the insurance industry as the Central
Government may, from time to time, require.
(2)
Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (1), the
Authority shall, within nine months after the close of each
financial year, submit to the Central Government a report giving a
true and full account of its activities including the activities for
promotion and development of the insurance business during the
previous financial year.
(3)
Copies of the reports received under sub-section (2) shall be laid,
as soon as may be after they are received, before each House of
Parliament.
21.
Chairperson, members, officers and other employees of Authority to
be public servants
The
Chairperson, members, officers and other employees of the Authority
shall be deemed, when acting or purporting to act in pursuance of
any of the provisions of this Act, to be public servants within the
meaning of section 21 of the Indian Penal Code.
COMMENTS
Sec.
21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 defines the term "public
servant". Under that section "public servant" denotes
a person falling under any of the descriptions hereinafter
following, namely--
(1)
Every Commissioned Officer in the Military, Naval or Air
Forces of India;
(2)
Every Judges including any person empowered by law to
discharge, whether by himself or as a member of any body of persons,
any adjudicatory functions;
(3)
Every officer of a Court of Justice including a liquidator,
receiver or commissioner whose duty it is, as such officer, to
investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make,
authenticate or keep any document, or take charge or dispose of any
property or to execute any judicial process or to administer any
oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order in the court; and every
person specially authorised by a Court of Justice to perform any of
such duties;
(4)
Every juryman, assessor or member of a panchayat assisting a
Court of Justice or public servant;
(5)
Every arbitrator or other person to whom any cause or matter
has been referred for decision or report by any Court of Justice or
by any other competent public authority;
(6)
Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is
empowered to place or keep any person in confinement;
(7)
Every officer of the government whose duty it is, as such
officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to
bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety
or convenience;
(8)
Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take,
receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the government, or
to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the
government or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or
to report on any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the
government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating
to the pecuniary interests of the government, or to prevent the
infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests
of the government;
(9)
Every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take,
receive, keep or, expend any property, to make any survey or
assessment or to levy any rate or tax for any secular common purpose
of any village, town or district, or to make, authenticate or keep
any document for the ascertaining of the rights of the people of any
village, town or district.
(10)
Every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is
empowered to prepare, publish, maintain or revise an electoral roll
or to conduct an election or part of an election; and
(11)
Every person--
(a)
in the service or pay of the government or remunerated by fees or
commission for the performance of any
public duty by the government;
(b)
in the service or pay of a local authority, a corporation
established by or under a Central, Provincial or
State Act or a
Government company as defined in s. 617 of the Companies Act, 1956
(1 of 1956).
`Public
servant' includes any public servant as defined in the Indian Penal
Code (45 of 1860) and any servant of any local authority and any
person engaged in any employment or class of employment which the
State Government may, from time to time, declare to be employment or
class of employment essential to the life of the community.
A
pubic servant is one who is to discharge some public duty.
The absence of formal appointment is immaterial where a
person is in actual possession of a situation as a public servant.--S.C.
Pal v. J. Sharma Sarkar (1978) 2 Cal LJ 245
Public servants are following :
Chief Minister, Minister of a State, Officer in charge of a Police
Station, Pradhan of
Gram Sabha, Members of Panchayat Adalat, Chief Officer of Panchayat,
and the Public Prosecutors.
Following are not public servants :
Headmaster, teachers, principals of aided schools, civil servants
working on deputation with co-operative society, President and
Secretary of Co-operative Society, an M.L.A's. and the Mukhias.
22.
Protection of action taken in good faith
No
suit, prosecution or other legal proceedings shall lie against the
Central Government or any officer of the Central Government or any
member, officer or other employee of the Authority for anything
which is in good faith done or intended to be done under this Act or
the rules or regulations made thereunder:
PROVIDED
that nothing in this Act shall exempt any person from any suit or
other proceedings which might, apart from this Act, be brought
against him.
23.
Delegation of powers
(1)
The authority may, by general or special order in writing, delegate
to the Chairperson or any other member or officer or the Authority
subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in the order
such of its powers and functions under this Act as it may deem
necessary.
(2)
The Authority may, by a general or special order in writing, also
form committees of the members and delegate to them the powers and
functions of the Authority as may be specified by the regulations.
24.
Power to make rules
(1)
The Central Government may, by notification, make rules for carrying
out the provisions of this Act.
(2)
In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing power, such rules may provide for all or any of the
following matters, namely:--
(a)
the salary and allowances payable to, and other terms and
conditions of service of, the members other than part-time members
under sub-section (1) of section 7;
(b)
the allowances to be paid to the part-time members under
sub-section (2) of section 7;
(c)
such other powers that may be exercised by the Authority
under clause (q) of sub-section (2) of section 14;
(d)
the form of annual statement of accounts to be maintained by
the Authority under sub-section (1) of section 17;
(e)
the form and the manner in which and the time within which
returns and statements and particulars are to be furnished to the
Central Government under sub-section (1) of section 20;
(f)
the matters under sub-section (5) of section 25 on which the
Insurance Advisory Committee shall advise the Authority;
(g)
any other matter which is required to be, or may be,
prescribed, or in respect of which provision is to be or may be made
by rules.
COMMENTS
Sec.
7(1) provides for the salary and allowances payable to, and other
terms and conditions of service of, the members other than part-time
members, and s. 7(2) deals with the allowances to be received by
part-time members.
Under s.
17(1), the authority shall maintain proper accounts and other
relevant records and prepare an annual statement of accounts in such
form as may be prescribed by the Central Government in consultation
with the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India.
25.
Establishment of Insurance Advisory Committee
(1)
The Authority may, by notification, establish with effect from such
date as it may specify in such notification, a Committee to be known
as the Insurance Advisory Committee.
(2)
The Insurance Advisory Committee shall consist of not more than
twenty-five members excluding ex officio members to represent the
interests of commerce, industry, transport, agriculture, consumer
fora, surveyors, agents, intermediaries, organisations engaged in
safety and loss prevention, research bodies and employees'
association in the insurance sector.
(3)
The Chairperson and the members of the Authority shall be the ex
officio Chairperson and ex officio members of the Insurance Advisory
Committee.
(4)
The objects of the Insurance Advisory Committee shall be to advise
the Authority on matters relating to the making of the regulations
under section 26.
(5)
Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-section (4), the
Insurance Advisory Committee may advise the Authority on such other
matters as may be prescribed.
26.
Power to make regulations
(1)
The Authority may, in consultation with the Insurance Advisory
Committee, by notification, make regulations consistent with this
Act and the rules made thereunder to carry out the purposes of this
Act.
(2)
In particular, and without prejudice to the generality of the
foregoing power, such regulations may provide for all or any of the
following matters, namely:--
(a)
the times and places of meetings of the Authority and the
procedure to be followed at such meetings including the quorum
necessary for the transaction of business under sub-section (1) of
section 10;
(b)
the transactions of business at its meetings under
sub-section (4) of section 10;
(c)
the terms and other conditions of service of officers and
other employees of the Authority under sub-section (2) of section
12;
(d)
the powers and functions which may be delegated to Committees
of the members under sub-section (2) of section 23; and
(e)
any other matter which is required to be, or may be,
specified by regulations or in respect of which provision is to be
or may be made by regulations.
27.
Rules and regulations to be laid before Parliament
Every
rule and every regulation made under this Act shall be laid, as soon
as may be after it is made, before each House of Parliament, while
it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be
comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and
if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the
session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both Houses agree in
making any modification in the rule or regulation or both Houses
agree that the rule or regulation should not be made, the rule or
regulation shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form
or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such
modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity
of anything previously done under that rule or regulation.
28.
Application of other laws not barred
The
provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in
derogation of, the provisions of any other law for the time being in
force.
29.
Power to remove difficulties
(1)
If any difficulty arises in giving effect to the provisions of this
Act, the Central Government may, by order published in the Official
Gazette, make such provisions not inconsistent with the provisions
of this Act as may appear to be necessary for removing the
difficulty:
PROVIDED
that no order shall be made under this section after the expiry of
two years from the appointed day.
(2)
Every order made under this section shall be laid, as soon as may
be, after it is made, before each House of Parliament.
30.
Amendment of Act 4 of 1938
The
Insurance Act, 1938 shall be amended in the manner specified in the
First Schedule to this Act.
31.
Amendment of Act 31 of 1956
The
Life Insurance Corporation Act, 1956 shall be amended in the manner
specified in the Second Schedule to this Act.
32.
Amendment of Act 57 of 1972
The
General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act, 1972 shall be
amended in the manner specified in the Third Schedule to this Act.
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