Introduction:

This article will outline the concept of Parliamentary Committees, a group of politicians which are responsible for overseeing parliamentary business, as well as their significance and how they work. This includes how these groups operate in India.

Parliamentary committees are organized either standing or ad hoc. Standing committees, as the name suggests, exist on an ongoing basis to fulfill the function of parliamentary oversight. On the other hand, ad hoc committees are set up for a specific purpose and dissolved when it is completed.

What is the Parliamentary Committee?

In a parliamentary system of government, committees are formed by the Parliament or the legislature to scrutinize laws, recommend changes and also to give recommendations on new laws. The committee must have a minimum of three members. In addition to its role in scrutinizing laws, the committee has a constitutional duty “to review the work of other governments departments”. The functioning is governed by rules which are an act passed with the reference (or rule) of privileges.

Types of Parliamentary Committees:

1) Standing Committees:

These are permanent committees which perform the role of oversight over all departments of the government functioning. They can also prepare reports to the legislature on their findings. For example, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

2) Ad Hoc (One-Time) Committees:

These are set up for a specific purpose and are used to perform parliamentary duties in a non-continuous manner, such as preparing reports and recommendations or conducting investigations. There are three kinds of ad hoc committees with specific functions; Committee on Members’ Services and Special Provisions, Committee on Estimates and the Committee on Public Accounts. Members must be nominated by their respective houses (or state legislatures).

What is the Joint Parliamentary Committee?

In India many of the important bills are scrutinized by a joint parliamentary committee. A joint parliamentary committee is a parliamentary committee that is constituted with members from both the houses of the Indian Parliament. They are usually set up to examine complex issues which cannot be examined by one house alone and to avoid overlap between standing committees of the two houses. In addition to examining new bills, it can also review existing laws and suggest amendments.

The most common joint committees include those on finance, plans, railway budget and estimates, media regulation, private member bills, petitions related to human rights violations , etc.

Significance:

The most important role played by Parliamentary Committees is that they oversee parliamentary business; they do not have legislative power as this is vested in Parliament. They are therefore a subaltern entity to the Parliament. Powers and jurisdiction of parliamentary committees vary from country to country. Parliamentary committees review the functioning of the Executive branch of the Government under the purview of parliament. The main role is to scrutinize and oversee legislation and also discuss budgets, domestic and foreign policy, defense, security and any other issues which it has authority over via law or custom. Parliamentary committees are established by an act of parliament to investigate and scrutinize the work of a ministry/department or to make recommendations about new legislation. The lower house of India’s Parliament, the Lok Sabha has 21 standing committee members while the upper house Rajya Sabha has 10 committee members. Lok Sabha Secretariat takes care of all aspects concerning Parliamentary Committees like composition and appointment of members to various Parliamentary Committees etc.

Role and Responsibilities of Parliamentary Committees:

1) Scrutinize and oversee legislation and also discuss budgets, domestic and foreign policy, defense, security etc.

2) It has to identify areas which are susceptible to loss of public revenue if not dealt with in time.

3) Prepare a report on their findings.

4) Research Legislative reforms.

5) Identify the required amendments in existing laws making suggestions to improve the weaker sections of society like women and children.

6) Identify the areas where new laws are required to be drafted making suggestions of law drafts which need updates or repealed and drafting new ones.

7) It has to review various submissions and petitions to identify their correctness and any possible problems faced by the public.

8) Holds discussions with Central Government officials regarding their policies, objectives, expenditures etc.

9) If a minister or department is found in legislative wrong, the committee is to submit a report on it in order to hold meetings of the legislature (Parliament).

10) Make recommendations on new laws. It makes suggestions of law drafts which need updates or repealed and drafting new ones.

11) The committee also has annual reports to present before Parliament as well as recommendations of issues that need consideration by the legislature.

Conclusion:

This committee’s role is quite important in scrutinizing the government policies and to suggest amendments in existing laws. It helps the legislature in taking the right decision. Also the members of the parliamentary committee are active members of their respective houses and have deep knowledge about various issues involved in the complex governance system.