General Studies- II
Topic- Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT)
Context
All India Conference of Central Administrative Tribunal 2020 held in New Delhi
About CAT
- Central Administrative Tribunal was established under Article 323A of the Constitution.
- It was inserted by the 42nd Constitutional Amendment, 1976.
- It is a multi-member body consisting of Chairman and members.
- It was established in 1985 under Section 29 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, 1985.
Objective
The Central Administrative Tribunal was established for adjudication of disputes in case of recruitment and conditions of service of persons appointed to public services.
Functions
- It exercises original jurisdiction in relation to recruitment and all services matters of public servants covered by it.
- Its jurisdiction extends to the all-India services, Central civil services, civil posts under the Centre and civilian employee of defence services.
Benches
- It has 17 regular benches, 15 of which operate at the principal seats of High Courts and the remaining two at Jaipur and Lucknow.
- These Benches also hold circuit sittings at other seats of High Courts.
Composition
- The tribunal consists of a Chairman, Vice-Chairman and Members.
- The Members are drawn, both from judicial as well as administrative streams so as to give the Tribunal the benefit of expertise both in legal and administrative spheres.
- The appeals against the orders of an Administrative Tribunal shall lie before the Division Bench of the concerned High Court.
State Administrative Tribunal
Article 323-B empowers the state legislatures to set up tribunals for various matters like levy, assessment, collection and enforcement of any of the tax matters connected with land reforms covered by Article 31A.
What are the Tribunals?
- Tribunal is a quasi-judicial institution that is set up to deal with problems such as resolving administrative or tax-related disputes.
- It performs a number of functions like adjudicating disputes, determining rights between contesting parties, making an administrative decision, reviewing an existing administrative decision and so forth.
Why it is needed?
- The Tribunals were set up to reduce the workload of courts and to expedite decisions.
- They provide a forum which would be manned by lawyers and experts in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
- The tribunals perform an important and specialised role in justice mechanism.
- They take a load off the already overburdened courts.
- They hear disputes related to the environment, armed forces, tax and administrative issues.
General Studies- II
Topic– Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
India and Finland
Context
Cabinet approves MoU between India and Finland for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.
India and Finland Relationship
- India and Finland have enjoyed a strong diplomatic and long economic relationship.
- The two parties now desiring to strengthen and further develop the established relationship have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for strengthening cooperation in the field of Tourism.
- Finland is one of the emerging inbound source market for India.
- In 2018, 21239 Finnish tourists visited India.
- The signing of Memorandum of Understanding with Finland will be instrumental in increasing arrival from this source market.
Benefits
The main objectives of the Memorandum of understanding, inter alia, are-
- Establish the basis for a cooperative relationship to encourage and promote successful bilateral cooperation in the field of tourism.
- Sharing data; knowledge, expertise etc. related to tourism.
- Sharing experiences in making polices, regulation and standards in planning, implementation and development of tourism policy.
- Facilitating the identification and expansion of joint projects, pilots and partnerships between companies and organizations through visits, meetings, workshops, co-creation sessions and site evaluations.
- Exchanging best practices through workshops and study visits for experts of Finland and India on the field of cooperation.
- Encouraging development of partnerships in the context of multilateral development programs and projects of international Financial Institutions, in which both Participants have common interests.
General Studies- II
Topic – Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019
Context
Cabinet approves introduction of International Financial Services Centres Authority Bill, 2019 in Lok Sabha.
About
- The Union Cabinet approved the proposal the introduction of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) Bill 2019 in the Parliament.
- A unified authority for regulating all financial services will be established through the IFSCA Bill 2019.
- This is a Finance Bill under Article 117(1) of the Constitution.
- It should be introduced in Lok Sabha accordingly with the recommendation of the President under Article 117(1) and 274(1) of the Constitution.
Benefits
- Currently the banking, capital markets and insurance sectors in IFSC are regulated by multiple regulators i.e. RBI, SEBI and IRDAI.
- The dynamic nature of business in the IFSCs necessitates a high degree of inter-regulatory coordination.
- It also requires clarifications and frequent amendments in the existing regulations governing financial activities in IFSCs.
Need
- The development of financial services and products in IFSCs would require focused and dedicated regulatory interventions.
- Hence a need is felt for having a unified financial regulator for IFSCs in India to provide world class regulatory environment to financial market participants.
- Further, this would also be essential from an ease of doing business perspective.
- The unified authority would also provide the much needed impetus to further development of IFSC in India in-sync with the global best practices.
For Prelims
National Organic Food Festival
Highlights
- The first National Organic Food Festival is being hosted in New Delhi in February 2020.
- The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) with the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) are the organizer of National Organic Food Festival.
- It aims to strengthen the organic market and empower women entrepreneurs in the area of production and processing of organic products.
- Theme: Unleashing India’s Organic Market Potential
- It will also focus on facilitating business linkages and empowering women entrepreneurs through pre-arranged B2B and B2G meetings.
