Committees of Indian Parliament are a necessary adjunct of the work of Parliament

Under a Parliamentary system of government, Committees of Parliament are a necessary adjunct of the work of Parliament. They make parliamentary work smooth, efficient and expeditious. They provide a certain expertise to the deliberations of Parliament.

They enable Parliament to feel the pulse of the public on proposals of legislation that are introduced for its consideration. They also help to realise better and more constructive co-operation from the opposition for various measures initiated by the Government.

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, there are twelve Committees of Parliament. The following is a brief survey of the work of these Committees which should give one a general perspective of the work of Parliament itself:

(1) The Business Advisory Committee

This Committee is constituted at the commencement of the House with a view mainly to regulating the time-table of the work of the House and has fifteen members. The Speaker himself is its Chairman.

(2) The Committee on Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions

This again is a Committee of fifteen whose main function is to examine all private members’ Bills from different points of view before recommending them to be placed before the House for its consideration.

(3) Select Committees on Bills

The occasion for the appointment of a Select Committee on any Bill arises as and when a motion that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee is made. Members of a Select Committee are appointed by the House. A Select Committee may hear expert evidence and representatives of special interests affected by the measure before them, and submit its report to the House.

(4) The Committee on Petitions

The Committee is nominated by the Speaker at the commencement of the House and it has strength of fifteen members.

(5) The Estimates Committee

The financial business of Parliament, as we have already seen, is so complex that, constituted as it is, Parliament is unable to devote to it the time and energy required for discharging satisfactorily its responsibilities for financial control. Hence two Committees have been set up to enable Parliament to discharge its functions in this connection more efficiently, viz., the Estimates Committee and the Public Accounts Committee.

The Estimates Committee is charged with the detailed examination of the budget estimates and, therefore, is in a powerful position to influence the activities of the Government not only in the financial field but also in other fields. There are four specific functions allotted to the Committee:

(1) To report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected;

(2) To suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration;

(3) To examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and

(4) To suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

The Committee has thirty members who are elected in accordance with the system of proportional representation from among the members of the Lok Sabha for a period of one year.

One special feature of the work of the Committee is that its work is not over with the final passage of the budget even though it is mainly concerned with estimates. It goes on working all the year round, selecting to its own choice, any department or agency of the Government for the purpose of its scrutiny.

(6) The Public Accounts Committee

The Public Accounts Committee is the twin-sister of the Estimates Committee. If the latter is concerned with the examination of estimates, the former is concerned with the manner and results of spending public funds.

The Public Accounts Committee is not new to India. As early as 1923, a Public Accounts Committee was set up by the Central Legislative Assembly. Consequently, the Committee today has behind it a set of well-established traditions.

The Committee consists of twenty-two members of whom seven are from the Rajya Sabha. The members are elected by the system of proportional representation. No Minister can be a member of the Committee. The term of office of the members is not to exceed one year.

The function of the Committee is the examination of accounts of the Government in all its financial transactions. In this respect it is its duty to scrutinise the appropriation of accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India. The Committee should satisfy itself:

(a) That the moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for, and applicable, to the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged;

(b) That the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it; and

(c) That every re-appropriation has been made in accordance with the provisions made in this behalf under rules framed by competent authority.

It is also the duty of the Committee to examine the statements of accounts showing the income and expenditure of State-Corporations, and manufacturing concerns, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, together with their balance sheets and profit and loss accounts.

If any money has been spent on any service during a financial year in excess of the amount granted by the House for that purpose, the Committee shall examine with reference to the facts of each case the circumstances leading to such an excess and make such recommendation as it deems fit.

Unlike the Estimates Committee, the Public Accounts Committee has at its disposal the expert advice of the Comptroller and Auditor- General based upon a thorough study and detailed examination of the Government’s accounts.

(7) The Committee of Privileges

The Speaker nominates this Committee at the commencement of the House and it consists of fifteen members. It is concerned with the examination of questions of privilege and the determination of any breach of privilege in the cases which are referred to it.

(8) The Committee on Subordinate Legislation

The main function of this Committee is to scrutinise and report to the House whether the powers to make regulations, rules, sub-rules, bye-laws, etc., conferred by the Constitution or delegated by Parliament are being properly exercised within the limits of such delegation.

It will have a maximum membership of fifteen who will hold office for a year. The members are nominated by the Speaker. Membership of this Committee is not open to Ministers.

(9) The Committee on Government Assurances

It is the function of this Committee to scrutinise the various assurances, promises, undertakings, etc., given by Ministers, from time to time, on the floor of the House and to report on the extent to which such assurances have been implemented.

(10) The Committee on Absence of Members from the Sittings of the House

This also is a fifteen-member Committee whose members are nominated by the Speaker for a year. The Committee considers all applications from members for leave of absence from the sittings of the House and will examine every case where a member has been absent for a period of sixty days or more, without permission, from the sittings of the House and will report whether the absence should be condoned or the seat of the member be declared vacant.

(11) The Rules Committee

The main function of the Rules Committee is to consider matters of procedure and conduct of business in the House and to recommend any amendments or additions to these rules that may be deemed necessary. The Committee is nominated by the Speaker, has fifteen members, and the Speaker himself is its ex officio Chairman.

(12) The Committee on Public Undertakings

The Lok Sabha, in November 1963, adopted a motion to set up a Committee on Public Undertakings consisting of ten members of the Lok Sabha and five of the Rajya Sabha.

The Committee will examine (a) the reports and the accounts of the Public Undertakings, (b) the reports, if any, of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on the Public Undertakings, and (c) in the context of the autonomy and efficiency of the Public Undertakings whether their affairs are being managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices.

It will also examine such functions at present vested in the Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates Committee in relation to Public Undertakings as may be allotted to that Committee by the Speaker from time to time.

Matters of major Government policy as distinct from business or commercial functions, matters of day to day administration, and matters for the consideration of which machinery is established by any special statute will not be examined by this Committee.

One-fifth of the Committee shall retire every year by rotation and members to retire by rotation every year shall be those who have been longest in office since their last election.

The Public Undertakings over which the Committee will have jurisdiction are: the Damodar Valley Corporation, Industrial Finance Corporation, Indian Airlines Corporation, Air-India International, Oil and Natural Gas Commission and all Government companies.

Although the decision to constitute the Committee was taken in 1963, it came into being only in 1964.