Parliamentary Committees

in India
 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.
 Parliamentary Committees

1- Standing Committees 2- Ad-Hoc Committees

1- Financial 2-Departmentally 3- Other Standing

Related Committees
Committees Standing
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
• 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.

Committees Total Reports
Public Accounts committees 39
Subordinate legislation 29
Private Members Bill 21
Government Assurances 20
Estimate Committees 11
MPLADS 6
Ethics 1

Source: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites , PRS

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
DRCS’s Reports Average Avg meeting Attendance
meetings per time per report (%)
report
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

Source: Respective reports of the Committees;

PRS
 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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