Attorney General, NHRC, CIC & other bodies

The Attorney General of India (Article 76)

The Attorney General for India is the first law officer of the Union and the only one named in the Constitution. Article 76(1) requires the President to appoint a person qualified to be a Supreme Court judge—that is, a citizen who has been a High Court judge for five years, an advocate of a High Court for ten years, or an eminent jurist. The AG holds office during the pleasure of the President (Art. 76(4)); there is no fixed tenure, no prescribed removal procedure, and the conventional understanding is that the AG resigns when the government that recommended the appointment leaves office. M.C. Setalvad was the first AG (1950–1963), serving the longest term.

Duties, rights and disabilities

Under Article 76(2) the AG advises the Government of India on legal matters referred by the President and performs such legal duties as assigned. Article 76(3) grants a right of audience in all courts of India. Crucially, under Article 88 the AG has the right to speak in, and take part in the proceedings of, both Houses of Parliament and any joint sitting, plus any parliamentary committee of which he is named a member—but without the right to vote. He enjoys the privileges and immunities of an MP (Art. 105 read with Art. 76).

The AG is not a full-time government servant and is not barred from private practice, but subject to restrictions: he must not advise or hold a brief against the Government of India, must not defend an accused in criminal proceedings without Union permission, and must not accept appointment as a director in a company without government consent. The AG is assisted by the Solicitor General and Additional Solicitors General, who—unlike the AG—are not constitutional posts but are appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The corresponding state office is the Advocate General under Article 165.

Distinguishing the AG from the CAG

A recurring Prelims trap is conflating the Attorney General (Art. 76) with the Comptroller and Auditor General (Art. 148). The AG advises the executive and has no security of tenure; the CAG is an independent watchdog with a guaranteed six-year term (or 65 years), removable only by the Sec. 124 judicial-misbehaviour route. The AG is partisan to the Union's legal interests; the CAG audits the Union's accounts. Both are constitutional, but their functions are diametrically opposite—one defends government, the other holds it to account.

The AG illustrates the wider syllabus theme: a constitutional office whose independence rests on convention rather than statutory insulation. Compare this with the salaried, security-protected offices examined later in this lesson, where Parliament has legislated explicit tenure and removal safeguards.

NHRC: the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993

The National Human Rights Commission is a statutory body, created by the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993—it is NOT a constitutional body, a point examiners test relentlessly. Following the 2019 amendment, the NHRC comprises a Chairperson plus members. The chairperson may be a retired Chief Justice of India or a retired Supreme Court Judge (the 2019 amendment widened eligibility to include retired SC judges, not only retired CJIs). The Commission includes a member who is or has been a Supreme Court judge, a member who is or has been a Chief Justice of a High Court, three members (at least one woman) with human-rights knowledge, and the chairpersons of the National Commissions for SCs, STs, Women, Minorities, Backward Classes, Protection of Child Rights, and the Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities as deemed members.

The Chairperson and members are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a six-member committee headed by the Prime Minister (including the Speaker, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, leaders of opposition in both Houses, and the Union Home Minister). The 2019 amendment reduced the term from five years to three years or until age 70, whichever is earlier, with eligibility for reappointment. Removal is by the President on grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity, after a Supreme Court inquiry. The NHRC's powers are recommendatory: it can inquire, summon witnesses with civil-court powers under the CPC, recommend compensation, and approach the Supreme Court or High Court—but cannot enforce. Its jurisdiction over the armed forces is limited under Section 19.

CIC: the Right to Information Act, 2005

The Central Information Commission is a statutory body under the RTI Act, 2005, the apex appellate authority for information requests concerning Union public authorities. It comprises a Chief Information Commissioner and up to ten Information Commissioners, appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee of the Prime Minister, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the PM.

The RTI (Amendment) Act, 2019 was a watershed: it stripped the original fixed five-year term and the salary parity with the Election Commissioners, empowering the Central Government to prescribe the term, salary and conditions of service by rules. Critics argued this eroded the Commission's independence by making it beholden to the executive. The CIC hears second appeals, imposes penalties on errant Public Information Officers (up to ₹25,000), and orders disclosure. The corresponding state authority is the State Information Commission. Removal of the Chief Information Commissioner mirrors the NHRC route: presidential order on proved misbehaviour after Supreme Court inquiry.

Why this matters for the exam

This cluster of offices is among the highest-yield, lowest-effort scoring areas in UPSC Prelims GS Paper I, because the questions are almost always factual and discriminatory: constitutional vs statutory, who appoints, what term, who removes. The single most repeated trap is the constitutional/statutory dichotomy—candidates must memorise that the Attorney General (Art. 76), the CAG (Art. 148), the ECI (Art. 324), the UPSC (Art. 315) and the Finance Commission (Art. 280) are constitutional, whereas the NHRC, CIC, CVC, Lokpal, NCBC (now constitutional after the 102nd Amendment, 2018), and NITI Aayog require careful classification. The 102nd Constitutional Amendment giving the National Commission for Backward Classes constitutional status (Art. 338B) is a favourite PYQ pivot.

What is actually tested

Prelims has repeatedly asked composition and appointment-committee questions: for the NHRC and CIC, the appointing committee headed by the Prime Minister is a recurring distractor. Retain these exact facts: NHRC chairperson—retired CJI or retired SC judge (post-2019); NHRC/CIC term—three years or up to 70 (NHRC) / Central-Government-prescribed (CIC) after the 2019 amendments; AG—during the pleasure of the President, no fixed term. The 2019 amendments are themselves examinable: know that they reduced NHRC tenure from five to three years and removed CIC's statutory term and salary parity.

How to deploy in Mains GS-2

Mains GS-2 covers "statutory, regulatory and quasi-judicial bodies" and "mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of vulnerable sections." The examiner rewards an answer that distinguishes mandate from enforceability: the NHRC and CIC have inquisitorial and recommendatory powers but lack binding enforcement, which feeds the standard critique that they are 'toothless.' A high-scoring answer pairs this with concrete reform proposals—fixed statutory tenure restored, collegium-style appointments, suo-motu enforcement powers—and cites the GANHRI accreditation deferrals as evidence of an international credibility cost. Link the AG to debates on the executive's monopoly over legal advice, and connect RTI weakening to the broader transparency-versus-privacy contest sharpened by the Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (2017) privacy judgment and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which amended Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.

Drill these as a comparative table: name, founding authority, status, appointer, term, removal, enforcement power. That single table answers most objective questions and frames every analytical one.