The 1929 Bylaw of Iran's National Legislative Council and the Responsibility of the Government Officials

This article reviews the bylaw of Iran’s National Legislative Council and the responsibility of the government officials which was approved in 1929, during the prime ministry of Mahdi-Qoli Khan Hedayat. The Legislative Council, which was under direct supervision of Reza Shah, was formed as an attempt by the executive to solve the existing problems without getting assistance from laws and the judiciary. According to the bylaw, the heads of government bureaus had to report the behavior of their agents to their superior officials. The bylaw, which discusses the responsibilities of the council, the method for choosing its members and the punishments for the subordinate agents, is introduced in this paper by discussing its first, second and fifth articles. After introducing the bylaw, we briefly discuss the governance of the three neighboring cities, Golpayegan, Kamareh, and Khansar in that era and the disputes that existed in this region. In this paper, we present the full text of the bylaw and the public statement of the legislative council addressing the governor of the three cities, Hossein Heshmat. It is concluded that this bylaw declares the inefficiency of the legislature and the dominance of the executive in handling the existing complaints. It is also mentioned that this informative bylaw aimed to collect information via different methods in order to reinforce the bureaucracy system.