Parliamentary Committees in India

-Ayushi Rai (PPG)-Sujata Bahot (PPG)

-Trina Das (DS)

Parliamentary committees

. Why are Parliamentary Committees needed?

• Increases efficiency and expertise of Parliament.• Review proposed laws , oversee activities of the executive branch and scrutinize government expenditure.• Forum to build consensus across party lines.• Help develop expertise in subjects.• Enables consultation with independent experts and stakeholders.

1- Financial Committees

2-Departmentally Related Standing Committees

3- Other Standing Committees

1- Standing Committees 2- Ad-Hoc Committees

Parliamentary Committees

1- Financial Committees

A- Committee on Estimates.. 30 members elected by Lok Sabha every year from amongst its

members for one year. Ministers are not eligible.

. Functions-:

i- Examines estimates of Ministries.

ii- Suggests alternative policies in order to bring efficiency in administration.

iii-Suggests the form in which estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

B- Committee on Public Undertakings

• 22 members in total out of which15 members are elected by the Lok Sabha and 7 members elected by Rajya Sabha for one year. Ministers are not eligible.

• Functions-:

i- To examine reports and accounts of Public Undertakings.

ii- To examine whether the affairs of the Public Undertakings are being managed in accordance with sound business principles .

iii- To examine the reports, if any, of the C.A.G on the Public Undertakings.

C- Committee on Public Accounts

• 22 members out of which 15 members are elected by Lok Sabha and 7 by Rajya Sabha for one year. Ministers are not eligible.

• Chairperson is an opposition member.

• Functions-:

i- To ascertain whether the money granted by the Parliament has been spent by Government “within the scope of demand”.

ii- Only concerned with the execution of the policy laid down by the Parliament and its results.

2- Departmentally Related Committees

. Introduced in 1993 . There are 24 DRCs .

• 31 members, 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. Seats are allocated on the basis of the strength of the parties in the House.

• Committees such as Home Affairs, Finance and External Affairs are customarily chaired by a member of opposition.

• Main function is to ensure the oversight over each ministry.

3- Other Standing Committees• Each house has a set of these Committees, to inquire into other

matters related to Parliament and day to day business of the house.

• Lok Sabha has 16 committees and Rajya Sabha has 12.• Number of members varies from 7 to 26,some with fixed term

and some without fixed term. • A minister is not eligible to be a member of Committees on

Women Empowerment, Government Assurances, Petitions, Subordinate Legislation and Welfare of SCs/STs.

• Joint Committees include members from both the houses. Such Committees have about 15 members and are formed for one term of the Lok Sabha.

• Examples-: Business Advisory Committee, Committee on Petitions, Subordinate Legislations and Government Asuurances etc.

Ad-Hoc Committees

• Appointed for a specific purpose and cease to exist after the completion of the task. Examples-: Joint Committee to examine pricing of telecom licenses and spectrum.

• Committees on Ethics, MPLADS and Provision of Computers to Lok Sabha members, Joint Committee on Waqf , Railway Convention, Fertilisers Pricing etc.

• Except for Joint Committee on Waqf , the committees operate in Lok Sabha.

• Members are from both the houses and varies between 10 and 30.

National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC)

In 2002, the NCRWC pointed out some shortcomings of the committees:

• low attendance of MPs at meetings • Too many ministries under a committee • Norms not followed by most political parties while nominating

MPs to committees• The constitution of DRSCs for a year leaves very little time

for specialisations.

Recommendations of NCRWC DRSCs should be periodically reviewed. All Bills should be referred to

DRSCs. They can elicit public views and call specialist advisors. The DRSCs may finalise the second reading stage in the Committee.

Three new committees should be set up:

(a) Standing Committee on National Economy to provide analysis of the national economy with resources for advisory expertise, data gathering and research facilities

(b) Standing Constitution Committee to scrutinise Constitutional Amendment Bills before they are introduced in Parliament

(c) Committee on Legislations to oversee and coordinate legislative planning. Existing Committees on Estimates, Public Undertakings and Subordinate Legislation may not be needed. The Petitions Committee can be a supplement to the proposed office of the Lok Pal.

• Major reports of all Committees should be discussed in Parliament especially in cases where there is disagreement between a Committee and the government. The recommendations of the PACs should be accorded greater weight and they should be treated as the “conscience-keepers of the nation in financial matters”

Metrics to measure the effectiveness of the committees

The effectiveness of the committees can be evaluated :

1. quantitatively

2. qualitatively

Quantitative Evaluation

1. Number of reports tabled: The reports involve ATRs and

reviews.

Source: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites , PRS

Committees Total ReportsPublic Accounts committees 39

Subordinate legislation 29

Private Members Bill 21

Government Assurances 20

Estimate Committees 11

MPLADS 6

Ethics 1

2. Time Taken to Submit Reports:

For example: DRSC’s get two to three months to submit the report and in case the report isn’t submitted in the stipulated time extension is given.

3. Number of meetings held and attendance of MPs: Example Data on Demand for Grants

Source: Respective reports of the Committees; PRS

DRCS’s Reports Average meetings per report

Avg meeting time per report

Attendance (%)

Finance 13 1 7 50

Defense 3 4 10 57

Petroleum 3 2 4 61

HRD 4 2 5 48

Rural Dev 12 2 6 50

Health 1 2 7 52

• For instance :

1. For the Nuclear Liability Bill the committees met 13 times.

2. The committees met only twice for bills such as the Anti Hijacking Bill (2010) and Juvenile Justice Bill (2010)

• Though the number of meeting conducted by these committees is measurable but the quality of work is difficult to judge.

• The PAC with the composition of 22 MPs had an average

attendance of 11 MPs in its meetings.

Qualitative Evaluation

• Studying the quality of recommendation proposed by the committees.

• Level of knowledge of MPs.• Quality of discussions in the committees. • Acceptance of committee Recommendations : The impact of the

committee in influencing a policy can be measured by the proportion of recommendations that are accepted and implemented.

For example: The subordinate legislation committee made 28 recommendation with an acceptance rate of 93% whereas DRSC on HRD made 608 recommendations but the acceptance of the recommendations is only 7%.

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