Parliamentary Committees UPSC Notes

Members of Parliament need help to understand the complexity of the bills introduced in the House. Additionally, Parliament do not have enough time as they meet thrice a year, that too with a limited number of days there comes the role of parliamentary committees.

The parliamentary committees assist members of Parliament in discharging their duties and reducing the considerable workload of legislative matters that come up before Parliament.

What are Parliamentary Committees?

Parliamentary committees are groups of members elected or appointed by the House or nominated by the speaker, work under the speaker’s direction, present their report to the House or the speaker and have a secretariat provided by the House of Parliament.

Power and Authority drawn:

• The committees draw their authority from Article 105, dealing with the privileges of members of Parliament.
• Article 118 allows the Authority to make rules to regulate its Procedures and conduct of business.

By their nature, parliamentary committees are classified into the following categories:

1. Standing committees
2. Ad hoc committees

1. Standing committees:

The standing committees are permanent and regular committees that are constituted from time to time as per the provisions of an Act of Parliament of India or rules of Procedure and conduct of business in Lok Sabha. The committees consist of Members of Parliament.

The standing committees are classified into the following categories:

Committees	Sub-Committees
a. Financial committees	a.    Public Accounts Committee b.    Estimates Committees c.     Committee on Public Undertaking
b. Departmental standing committees	A total of 24 departmental standing committees
c. Committees to Inquire	a.    Committee on petitions b.    Committee of Privileges c.     Ethics Committee.
d. Committees to scrutinise and control	a.    Committee on Government Assurances b.    Committee on Subordinate Legislation c.     Committee on papers laid on the Table d.    Committee on Welfare of SCs and STs e.    Committee on Empowerment of Women f.     Joint committees on the office of profit.
e. Committees relating to the everyday business of the House	a.    Business Advisory Committee b.    Committee on Private Member’s bills and resolutions c.     Rules Committee d.    Committee on Absence of Members from sittings of the House
f. House-keeping committees or service committees	These are Committees concerned with the Provision of various facilities and services to Members. a.    General Purposes Committee b.    House Committee c.    Library committee d. Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members.

a. Financial committees:

Through these committees, the financial Accountability of the executive is ensured. There are 3 important standing committees dealing with financial affairs:

1. The Estimates Committee
2. The Public Accounts Committee
3. The Committee on Public Undertakings

These are constituted under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the states’ Lok Sabha or Legislative Assembly.

1. Estimate committee:

This Committee was set up to ensure the economy in spending money and efficient use of resources.

The estimates committee is responsible for undertaking a detailed examination of the budget estimates put forth by the union government.

Origin of the committees:

• The inception of the Estimates Committee of India can be traced to the standing financial Committee in 1921.
• In Independent India, it came into existence in 1950 with the inauguration of the constitution as the first Estimate Committee of India on the recommendation of John Mathai (then Finance Minister) under Rule 310 of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha.

Term of the office and composition:

• Term: The term of the office is one year.
• Members: It comprises 30 members only from the Lok Sabha (originally, it had 25 members but was raised to 30 in 1956).
• Election procedure: They are elected by the Lok Sabha from amongst its members, according to the principles of proportional representation, by means of a single transferable vote. Thus, all parties get equal representation in it.
• Representation: The Committee has no representation from the Rajya Sabha.
• Chairman: The Speaker of the Lok Sabha appoints the chairman of the Committee from amongst its members, and he is always from a ruling party.
• A minister cannot be elected as a member of the Committee. 

Functions of the Estimates Committee are:

• Examines Budget estimates: The Committee proposes the efficient use of resources, analyses the estimates included in the budget, suggests economies in public expenditure, and prepares a plan for estimates.
• Suggesting Alternate policies: It suggests different other policies in place of the older one to bring economy and efficiency in administration.
• Scrutinised money utilisation: It Scrutinises whether the money is effectively laid out as per the limits of the policy implied in the estimates.
• Suggest a form in which the estimates will be presented in the Parliament.
• Continuous Examination: The Committee periodically examines the estimates and reports to the House as its examination proceeds.

Shortcoming:

• Postmortem Report: The Committee scrutinises the estimates of the budget only after the Parliament has voted on them and works like a postmortem.
• It cannot raise a question against the policy laid down by the Parliament.
• Advisory Recommendations: Its recommendations are only advisory and are not binding on the ministries.
• Examines selected Ministries and departments: By rotation, it would cover all of the ministries and departments over the years, as it examines only certain selected ministries yearly.
• Lacks Experts: It lacks the expert personnel of the CAG available to the Public Accounts Committee.

2. Public Accounts Committee:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is accorded a pivotal role in ensuring financial Accountability and monitoring the government’s financial activities.

Origin:

• Public Accounts committees were set up in 1921 under the (Montague Chelmsford Reforms) Government of India Act, 1919.
• It was set up both at the centre and a provincial level to examine government accounts to detect any abnormality or deviation from rules and regulations, losses, delays, etc.

Term and composition:

• Term: The term of the office of the members is one year.
• Members: It consists of twenty-two members (15 from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha).
• Election procedure: They are elected by both the House of the Parliament from amongst its members, according to the principles of proportional representation, by means of a single transferable vote. Thus, all parties get equal representation in it.
• Chairman: The chairman is appointed from amongst its members by the speaker, and he has invariably been from the opposition since 1967.
• A minister cannot be elected as a member of the Committee.

Functions of the Public Accounts Committee:

The functions of this Committee are given below:

• Examines CAG’s Report: The Committee examines accounts and the report of the Comptroller and auditor general of India to ascertain that the funds appropriated by the Parliament have been spent with economy and efficiency.