The Mizoram State Commission for Women Act, 2004 Complete Act - Bare Act

a Chairperson committed to the cause of women, to be nominated by the State Government;

seven women members to be appointed nominated by the State Government from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing, who have served the cause of women or have had experience in law or leg islation, trade unionism, management of own indus try or organisation committed to increasing the em ployment potential amongst women, women's volun tary organisation, administration, economic develop ment, health, education or social welfare.

one Member-Secretary, to be nominated by the State Government, who shall be -

an expert in the field of management of non- Government organisation, or social movement, or

an officer of the State Government, with adequate experience.

The Chairperson or a Member of the Commission other than the Member Secretary may, by writing and addressed to the State Government, resign his/her office.

The State Government may remove a person from the office of Chairperson or Member other than the Member-Secre tary, if that person -

becomes an undischarged insolvent, or

is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an of fence which, in the opinion of the State Government, involves moral turpitude, or

becomes of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; or

refuse to art or becomes incapable of acting,

is, without obtaining leave of absence from the Commission, absent from the consecutive meetings of the Commission, or

to investigate and examine all matters relating to the safeguards provided for women under the Constitution and other laws and recommend steps to be taken by the State Government for effective implementation of such safeguards;

to review, from time to time, the existing provisions of the Constitution and other laws affecting women and recom mend amendments thereto so as to suggest remedial legislative measures to meet any lacunae, inadequacies or shortcomings in such legislation;

to take up the cases of violation of the provisions of the Constitution and of other laws relating to women with the ap propriate authorities;

to look into complaints and take suo moto notice of matters relating to -

deprivation or women's rights;

non-implementation of laws enacted to provide protection to women and also to achieve the ob jective of equality and development;

non-compliance of policy decisions, guidelines or instructions aimed at mitigating hardships and ensuring welfare and providing relief to women; and to take up the issues arising out of such mat ters with appropriate authorities;

to undertake promotional and educational research so as to suggest ways of ensuring due representation of women in all spheres of life and identify factors responsible for impeding their advancement, such as, lack of access to housing and basic serv ices, inadequate support services and technologies fov reducing drudgery and occupational health hazards and for increasing their productivity;

to participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of women;

to evaluate the progress of the development of women under the State;

to visit a jail, remand home, women's institution or other place of custody where women are kept as pensioners or otherwise, and take up with the concerned authorities for remedial action, if found necessary;

The Commission shall, while investigating any matter referred to in clause (a) or sub-clause(i) of clause (d) of sub-sec tion (1), have all the powers of a civil court trying a suit under the existing laws and, in particular in respect of the following matters, namely:-

summoning and enforcing the attendance of any per son from any part of India and examining him on oath;

requiring the discovery and production of any docu ment;

receiving evidence on affidavits;

any other matter which may be prescribed

(a) On any investigation mentioned in clause (a) or sub -clauses (i) and (ii) of clause (d) of sub-section (1) being completed, the Commission while taking up the matter with the State Government or the appropriate authority under clause (c) or clause (d) of sub-section (I), may recommend to the State Government or the appropriate authority, as the case may be, to institute legal proceeding or prosecution in the matter and may also recommend to the State Govern ment or to the appropriate authority to appoint a counsel or a special prosecutor for the conduct of any such legal proceed ings or prosecution; and the State Government may, having regard to the nature of the case and on being satisfied that it is so necessary, to appoint a counsel or special prosecutor, do so

The State Government or the appropriate authority as the case may be, shall not apply for withdrawal of any such case or proceeding instituted under sub-section (3) without prior consul tation in writing with the Commission.

It shall be the duty of the Commission to furnish comments and recommendations on any report of the National Commission for Women on any matter with which the State Government is concerned as that Government may call for.

The Commission may, for the purpose of conducting inves tigations under this Act utilise the services of, -

any officer or investigating agency of the State Gov ernment with the concurrence of that Government, or

any other persons.

For the purpose of conducting an investigation, any officer or agency referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (1) may, subject to the direction and control of the Commission, -

summon and enforce the attendance of any person and examine him;

require the discovery and production of any documents; and

requisition any public record or copy thereof from any office.

Such officer or agency or the person shall investigate into the matter as directed by the Commission and submit a report thereon (herein-after, in this section referred to as" the investigation report), to the Commission within such period or extended period as may be speci fied or extended by the Commission in this behalf.

The Commission shall satisfy itself about the correctness of the facts stated and the conclusions, if any, arrived at in the investigation report submitted to it under sub-section (3) and for this purpose the Com mission may make such inquiry (including the examination of the person or persons who conducted or assisted in the investigation) as it may think fit.

is made in reply to a question which is required by the Com mission or such officer or agency or such person to answer, or

is relevant to the subject matter under investigation.

The Commission may maintain a register of voluntary or ganisations within the State and more particular women's organisations whose assistance it may seek for the discharge of its functions.

In discharge of its functions, the Commission may seek the assistance of any voluntary organisations within the State, more particu larly, the women's organisations.

A list of such organisations registered with the Commission shall be made available to any court or authority or, on request, to the members of general public.

If, for any reasons to be recorded in writing, the Commis sion deems it fit to cancel the name of any organisation from its register, it may do so, after giving such organisation a reasonable opportunity to be heard.

The decision of the Commission about such cancellation shall be final.

The annual accounts of the Commission shall be audited by the Accountant General of the State at such intervals as may be specified by him and any expenditure incurred in connection with such audit shall be payable by the Commission to the Accountant General.

The Accountant General and any person appointed by him in connection with the audit of the accounts of the Commission under this Act, shall have the same right and privileges and the authority in connection with such audit as the Accountant General generally has in connection with the audit of Government accounts and, in particular, shall have the right to demand the production of books, accounts, con nected vouchers and other documents and papers and to inspect any of the offices of the Commission.

The accounts of the Commission, as certified by the Ac countant General or any other person duly appointed or authorised by him in this behalf, together with the audit report thereon, shall be for warded annually to the State Government by the Commission.

Chairperson,

allowances for attending the meetings of the Committee by the co-opted persons under sub-section (3) of section 8;

other matters under clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 10;

any other matter which is required to be or may be prescribed.