Ad Hoc Committees

Introduction

Indian Polity consists of two types of Committees, which are the Standing Committee, and Ad Hoc Committee. Ad Hoc Committees are composed for restructuring certain tasks or proposals in the polity. Ad Hoc Committee is different from standing committees as standing committees are permanent. Ad Hoc Committees are formed by the government mostly for the short term and are dissolved after the task is completed.

Discussion

What is an Ad Hoc Committee in India?

The Ad Hoc Committees are the Parliamentary Committees of the constitution of India, which functions under the Chairman of the Houses in a combined manner. The examples for the Ad Hoc Committees in the polity include:

• Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex
• Committee on MP Local Area Development Scheme
• Committee on Ethics
• Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Lok Sabha Joint Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex
• Joint Committee on Maintenance Of Heritage Character and Development of Parliament House Complex
• Railway Convention Committee

Types of Ad Hoc Committees

There are two primary types of Ad Hoc Committees:

An Inquiry Committee is constituted to investigate certain situations from time to time. For instance, the Committee on Food Production in the Parliament House Complex is one of the committees looking into adjusting rates at the parliamentary canteen, which is located within the complex. The Rules of Procedure of the House outline the procedures that must be followed during a session.

Advisory Committees are constituted to provide feedback on specific proposals referred to them. An excellent example of this type of advisory body is the Joint Ad Hoc Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, which analyses the draft bill. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha determines the rules and procedures and how these committees conduct their business.

Characteristic features of Ad Hoc Committees

1. Ad Hoc Committees in the Lok Sabha are nominated by the Speaker whereas, in Rajya Sabha, the members are nominated by the Chairman. 
2. The Speaker appoints the Chairman of Ad Hoc Committees from among its members.
3. The Ad Hoc Committees are temporary in nature as they are formed in order to complete a specific task or report.
4. Ad Hoc Committees are disbanded after submitting their final report to the appropriate ministries.

Ad Hoc Property Meaning

It is necessary to ensure that unoccupied Indian properties are secured from dangers such as trespassing and property raiding through various implementations of socially appropriate property protection policies. The use of Property Guardians ensures that properties are not abandoned and instead provide cheap housing to hardworking people who are responsible and hardworking themselves. This culminates in the Ad hoc property.

To put it another way, the term “ad hoc property meaning” comes from the Latin phrase that means literally “to this” but is more often interpreted to imply “for this cause.” This may be used to refer to “as-needed” situations. The phrase is frequently heard in both settings of commerce and polity. Ad hoc committees are conducted in response to a specific scenario, position, or problem and are not usually developed to fix other ongoing concerns resulting from the action. It can be conceived of as a “one-time” occurrence. For instance, commercial organisations and the Indian government in a polity routinely convene ad hoc committees investigating a specific issue or problem and giving recommendations on addressing it effectively.

Ad Hoc Houses

Indian Parliament is mainly referred to as an Ad Hoc House. There are three types of this committee mentioned below:

The General Purposes Committee is responsible for dealing with issues that do not come under the authority of other legislative committees. This Ad hoc committee‘s membership includes the Presiding Officer (Speaker/Chairman) who serves as its ex-officio chairman, the Deputy Speaker (Deputy Chairman in the particular instance of Rajya Sabha), participants of the board of chairmen (panel of vice-chairpersons in the case of Rajya Sabha), chairs of all the individual departments standing ad hoc committees of the House in a polity, leaders of recognised political parties and groups in the House, and other members who the presiding officer nominates.

House Committee – This Ad Hoc house committee is in charge of overseeing the facilities provided to house representatives in the form of housing, food, medical assistance, and other amenities.

The Library Committee of Ad Hoc House is in charge of the management of the homes’ library and the facilities associated with it.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that the Ad Hoc Committees are not permanent. The Ad Hoc Committees are further divided into two categories as Inquiry and Advisory Committees. The Ad Hoc Committees are the Chairman who is responsible for dissolving the committee after the issue is resolved. Ad Hoc Committees consist of various members from both houses of the Parliament. Ad hoc committees have different characteristic features. Ad Hoc Committees in Indian polity usually have a short span of time with limited purposes, and no doubt, their contribution to parliamentary initiatives is immense.