Shah Commission
1977–78 Indian inquiry into the Emergency
Shah Commission was a commission of inquiry appointed by Government of India in 1977 to inquire into all the excesses committed in the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77). It was headed by Justice J.C. Shah, a former chief Justice of India.
Background
The Emergency of 25 June 1975 – 21 March 1977 was a 21-month period when President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, upon advice by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, declared a national emergency under Article 352 of the Constitution of India, effectively bestowing on her the power to rule by decree, suspending elections and civil liberties. It is one of the most controversial times in the history of independent India.
On 23 January 1977, Mrs Indira Gandhi called elections for March and released all political prisoners. In the elections held on 16–20 March 1977 Congress Party suffered a defeat at the hands of the Janata Party, which took office on 24 March 1977.
Process
The government appointed the commission on 28 May 1977 under Section 3 of the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952.
The commission was to report by 31 December 1977, but was later given an extension to 30 June 1978.
Justice Shah was insistent that the commission should complete its work quickly rather than dragging on endlessly like other commissions.
He set a deadline of 3 July 1977 as the last date on which complaints could be filed.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Shah Commission” is 1977–78 Indian inquiry into the Emergency. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Shah, Commission and Indian, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1977–78 Indian inquiry into the Emergency” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7461258. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1977, 1975, 1952 and 1978.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Shah Commission”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Shah Commission primary sources, Shah Commission archive and Shah research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Shah Commission”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Shah Commission” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.