Procedure and powers of the Commission

Procedure and powers of the Commission.—

1. (1) The Commission shall determine its own procedure and shall, in the performance of its functions, have all the powers of a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908), while trying a suit, in respect of the following matters, namely:—
   • (a) summoning and enforcing the attendance of witnesses;
   • (b) requiring the production of any document; and
   • (c) requisitioning any public record from any court or office.
2. (2) The Commission shall have power to require any person to furnish any information on such points or matters as in the opinion of the Commission may be useful for, or relevant to, any matter under the consideration of the Commission.
3. (3) The Commission may authorise any of its members to exercise any of the powers conferred on it by clauses (a) to (c) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (2), and any order made or act done in exercise of any of those powers by the member authorised by the Commission in that behalf shall be deemed to be the order or act, as the case may be, of the Commission.
4. (4) If there is a difference of opinion among the members, the opinion of the majority shall prevail, and acts and orders of the Commission shall be expressed in terms of the views of the majority.
5. (5) The Commission as well as any group of associate members shall have power to act notwithstanding the temporary absence of a member or associate member or the existence of a vacancy in the Commission or in that or any other group of associate members; and no act or proceeding of the Commission or of any group of associate members shall be invalid or called in question on the ground merely of such temporary absence or of the existence of such vacancy.
6. (6) The Commission shall be deemed to be a civil court for the purposes of sections 345 and 346 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974). Explanation.—For the purposes of enforcing the attendance of witnesses, the local limits of the jurisdiction of the Commission shall be the limits of the territory of India.