In May 1977 which party's government appointed the Shah commission?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Janta Party
In May 1977, the Janata Party government appointed a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice J.C. Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, to inquire into allegations of abuse of authority and excesses during the Emergency.
Note: The box ‘Shah Commission of Inquiry’ of the chapter ‘The Crisis of Democratic Order’, which gives the month of the appointment (May 1977), was there in the pre-rationalised NCERT; this box has been deleted from subsequent editions of NCERT, including the NCERT book (2026-27), though the chapter is still there. The 2023-24, 2025-26 and 2026-27 books still say, in an end-of-chapter exercise (Exercise 5, shown in the extract), that the Shah Commission was appointed in 1977 by the Janata Party Government.
NCERT (2026-27): “Exercises … 5. The Shah Commission was appointed in 1977 by the Janata Party Government. Why was it appointed and what were its findings?” NCERT (Pre-rationalised): “In May 1977, the Janata Party government appointed a Commission of Inquiry headed by Justice J.C. Shah, retired Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, to inquire “into several aspects of allegations of abuse of authority, excesses and malpractices committed and action taken in the wake of the Emergency proclaimed on the 25th June, 1975”.…” |