News: Lok Sabha Speaker inaugurated the national conference marking the platinum jubilee of the Parliamentary Estimates Committee in Mumbai’s Vidhan Bhavan complex.
About Estimates Committee
- The Committee on Estimates was constituted for the first time in 1950.
- Members: It is consisting of 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha from amongst its Members.
- Election: Members are elected according to the principle of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
- Chairperson: The Chairperson of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst its members.
- A Minister cannot be elected as a member of the Committee and if a member after selection to the Committee is appointed a Minister, the member ceases to be a Member of the Committee from the date of such appointment.
- Term of Office: The term of office of the Committee is one year.
- Functions: The functions of the committee as enshrined in Rule 310 of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. The functions of the Estimates Committee are:
- to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be effected;
- to suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration;
- to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates;
- to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.
- Exceptions: The Committee does not exercise its functions in relation to such Public Undertakings as are allotted to the Committee on Public Undertakings by the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of Lok Sabha or by the Speaker.
