The erstwhile Planning Commission was established in March 1950 by an executive resolution of the Government of India, (i.e., the Union Cabinet) on the recommendation of the Advisory Planning Board constituted in 1946, under the chairmanship of K.C. Neogi.
Thus, the erstwhile Planning Commission was neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body. In India, it was the supreme organ of planning for social and economic development.
Functions
The functions of the erstwhile Planning Commission included the following:
1. To make an assessment of material, capital and human resources of the country, and investigate the possibilities of augmenting them.
2. To formulate a plan for the most effective and balanced utilisation of the country’s resources.
3. To determine priorities and to define the stages in which the plan should be carried out.
4. To indicate the factors that retard economic development.
5. To determine the nature of the machinery required for successful implementation of the plan in each stage.
6. To appraise, from time to time, the progress achieved in execution of the plan and to recommend necessary adjustments.
7. To make appropriate recommendations for facilitating the discharge of its duties, or on a matter referred to it for advice by Central or state governments.
Composition
1. The Prime Minister of India was the chairman of the commission. He presided over the meetings of the commission.
2. The commission had a deputy chairman. He was the de facto executive head (i.e., full-time functional head) of the commission. He was responsible for the formulation and submission of the draft of Five-Year Plan to the Central cabinet. He was appointed by the Central cabinet for a fixed tenure and enjoyed the rank of a Cabinet Minister. Though he was not a member of cabinet, he was invited to attend all its meetings (without a right to vote).
3. Some Central Ministers were appointed as part-time members of the commission. In any case, the finance minister and planning minister were the ex-officio (by virtue of) members of the commission.
4. The commission had four to seven full-time expert members. They enjoyed the rank of a minister of state.
5. The commission had a member-secretary. He was usually a senior member of IAS. The state governments were not represented in the commission in any way.
Thus, the erstwhile Planning Commission was wholly a Centre-constituted body.
