A Government can appoint one, and must if each House resolves: the statute behind a commission of inquiry

Background

The Commissions Of Inquiry Act, 1952 is Act 60 of 1952 and it provides for appointing Commissions of Inquiry and for vesting them with certain powers. The appropriate Government can appoint a Commission if it is of opinion that it is necessary to do so, and it is bound to appoint one if a resolution to that effect is passed by each House of Parliament or by the Legislature of the State. The inquiry has to be into a definite matter of public importance, and the notification in the Official Gazette fixes the functions and the time. The Act decides which Government is the appropriate Government by looking at the entries in the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution. A Commission can have one member or more, and where there are several one of them can be made Chairman. The Government has to lay the report before each House of Parliament, or the Legislature of the State, with a memorandum of the action taken on it, within six months of getting it. While inquiring, a Commission has the powers of a Civil Court trying a suit under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 - summoning witnesses, requiring documents and requisitioning public records. If the Centre has appointed a Commission on a matter, no State can appoint another on the same matter without the Centre's approval while the first one is working.