Parliamentary business and an essential pit stop

Source: The post is based on the article “Parliamentary business and an essential pit stop” published in The Hindu on 16^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Parliament and State legislatures—structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges.

Relevance: About the Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSC).

News: The recently concluded monsoon session was adjourned sine die. Parliament had only limited legislative time this session and could pass only five pieces of legislation and referred two bills to the Standing Committee. The Lok Sabha’s productivity was 47% and the Rajya Sabha’s productivity was only 42%.

What are Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees (DRSC)?

What is the status of DRSC?

The percentage of Bills having been referred to the DRSCs during the tenures of the 14th (2004-2009), 15th (2009-2014) and 16th Lok Sabhas (2014-2019) has been 60%, 71% and 27%, respectively.

Why does the government have to refer the Bill to DRSCs?

The examination of the Bills by the parliamentary committees is more to the benefit of the Government than the Opposition. This is because a) The deliberations in these committees mostly add value to the content of the legislation as the Members discuss the provisions of the bill irrespective of their party positions, b) Committee members from both the ruling side and the opposition side have some sort of ownership of the bill as they examine the bill, c) As in most of these committees, the government has a majority and the final decision is always by the process of majority voting.

The Bills which are not being referred to the parliamentary committees are considered a) Not examined properly, especially from the perspective of consumers and stakeholders. For instance, the three Farm Bills were passed without being referred to the DRSC and had to be withdrawn later, b) Remain just a bureaucratically conceived piece of legislation.

What should be done?

The following changes could be suggested to be made into procedures meant for consideration of Bills.

Compulsory reference of Bills: The process of reference of Bills to these committees compulsory/an automatic process. The Speaker of the Lok Sabha and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha have powers to refer Bills to a DRSC of Parliament. An exemption could be made with the specific approval of the Speaker/Chairman after detailed reasons for the same.

Ensure frank and free discussions in DRSCs: During the discussions of the committee meetings, no whip of the party would apply to them.

Fixed timeline for DRSCs to come up with the recommendation and present its report: In case the committee fails to give its recommendation within the approved/extended time, the Bill may be put up before the House concerned directly.

Ensure quality work in the committee: Experts in the field may be invited who could bring with them the necessary domain knowledge and also help introduce the latest developments and trends in that field from worldwide.

Organise committee meetings for discussions between two sessions: It is important for the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to conduct committee meetings between two sessions to critically analyse the bill within the desired timeframe.

More power to discuss budget proposals: The committees should not limit themselves to discussing just the budget proposals and endorsing them with a few qualifications or amendments. They should come up with suggestions for the Ministry to take up new initiatives and people-friendly measures.