LS passes Inter-Services Organisations Bill & Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill

The Lok Sabha on Friday passed the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023 and the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023, within 40 minutes after short discussions through voice vote, amid protests by opposition members over the Manipur violence.

As the House convened at 12 p.m. opposition members arrived and stood in the Well of the House, displaying placards and shouting slogans.

Rajendra Agrawal, who was officiating the proceedings, urged them to stop the protests and let the House function.

"Yesterday was good (as the discussion on Delhi services bill was held with opposition also participating in it). There should be discussion on the House like yesterday," Agrawal said.

Amid protests, the House took up the two bills for discussion and passing.

Even the Anusandhan National Research Foundation Bill, 2023 was introduced in Lok Sabha, which aims to set up the Anusandhan National Research Foundation.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, while piloting the Inter-Services Organisations (Command, Control and Discipline) Bill, 2023, said that "it is an important step towards integration and jointness in the three wings of our armed forces so that they will be able to face the challenges of the future in a united and integrated manner".

He said that he wanted to assure the House that this bill is an important step in the direction of military reforms and does not include any additional financial implications.

Rajnath Singh urged the House to pass the bill as it has been cleared by the Parliamentary standing committee on defence without any changes.

"It will also help create an environment that will strengthen discipline in our Inter-Services Organisations," he said.

The bill was later passed through voice vote after a short discussion. As of now members of the armed forces are governed by three separate laws, i.e the Army Act of 1950, the Air Force Act of 1950 and the Navy Act of 1957.

Only officers from the same service have the authority to discipline those who fall under their respective Acts. This creates challenges in maintaining command, control, and discipline within groups that consist of members from different services.

The lack of disciplinary authority for the commander-in-chief of a joint services command and the officer-in-command of other inter-services organisations is a significant issue.

When any armed forces personnel is accused of a crime they must be sent back to their parent service unit for disciplinary or administrative action.

Whenever there are disciplinary or administrative issues involving personnel from different military branches it becomes even more complicated. This leads to multiple sets of proceedings under each branch's rules, causing delays and affecting discipline.

To address these issues, the new bill aims to make things easier and ensure maintenance of discipline and faster resolution of cases.

Meanwhile, the Indian Institutes of Management (Amendment) Bill, 2023 was also passed in Lok Sabha after a short discussion through voice vote.

The bill seeks to amend the Indian Institutes of Management Act, 2017, to upgrade the National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE) in Mumbai into an IIM. NITIE was set up by the government of India in 1963 with the help of the UN Development Programme and the International Labour Organization.

The bill proposes amendments to the IIM Act of 2017, including increased presidential powers in IIMs which has raised concerns over the balance between accountability and autonomy of these eminent management institutes in the country.

The amendment declares the 20 IIMs across the country as ‘institutions of national importance’.

The bill introduced in Lok Sabha by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan proposes to appoint the President as the ‘Visitor’ to all the IIMs.

As per the proposed changes, the ‘Visitor’ will have powers to conduct audits, and even appoint or remove the chairpersons of the board of governors and directors.

The bill allows the President, as the ‘Visitor’, to appoint the chairperson of the coordination forums for each IIM.

The coordination fora have been proposed for better coordination among all management insinuating common policy objectives.