Parliamentary Committees

Parliamentary Committees

Subject: Polity

Context: Amid Opposition’s demand for a judicial probe into the reports of tapping of phones of top politicians, Army officers, judges and journalists using the Pegasus spyware, a Parliamentary Standing Committee, headed by Shashi Tharoor, has decided to examine the matter.

Concept:

Parliamentary Committee means a Committee which is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker and which works under the direction of the Speaker and presents its report to the House or to the Speaker and the Secretariat for which is provided by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

Nature

Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds:

Standing Committees

• Itare permanent and regular committees which are constituted from time to time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
• The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
• The Financial Committees, DRSCs and some other Committees come under the category of Standing Committees.

Ad hoc Committees

• They are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
• The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills. Railway Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex etc also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.
• The Constitution of India makes a mention of these committees at different places, but without making any specific provisions regarding their composition, tenure, functions, etc. All these matters are dealt by the rules of two Houses.

Accordingly, a parliamentary committee means a committee that:

• Is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker / Chairman
• Works under the direction of the Speaker / Chairman
• Presents its report to the House or to the Speaker / Chairman
• Has a secretariat provided by the Lok Sabha / Rajya Sabha
• The introduction of 17 department-related standing committees (DRSCs) on March 31, 1993 was a significant innovation that increased parliamentary scrutiny and gave MPs a larger role in examining legislation and important decisions of the day.
• There are 24 DRSCs — 16 from Lok Sabha and 8 from Rajya Sabha. Each committee has 21 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.
• The role: Given the volume of legislative business and the time constraints it is not possible for MPs to discuss and scrutinise all bills in the House.
• Parliamentary committees, either formed for a specific bill (select committee) or permanent (standing committees that are reconstituted annually) allow for a scrutiny with the possibility of tapping subject experts from outside and other stakeholders in an environment where MPs are not bound by party positions or whips.