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Contents
- 1 Why are Parliamentary Committees constituted?
- 2 What are the recent concerns with Parliamentary Committees?
- 3 How has the Parliamentary Committee evolved with time?
- 4 What are the roles performed by the Parliamentary Committees?
- 5 How has been the performance of Parliamentary Committees in recent years?
- 6 What is the way ahead?
Source: The post is based on the article “The role of Parliamentary Committees” published in The Hindu on 13th April 2023.
Syllabus: GS 2 – Indian Polity
Relevance: About Parliamentary Committees
News: The article explains the role of Parliamentary Committees.
Why are Parliamentary Committees constituted?
What are the recent concerns with Parliamentary Committees?
These days a few bills are referred to Parliamentary Committees. For instance, only 14 Bills have been referred to Parliamentary Committees in the 17th session of Lok Sabha.
As per data from PRS, 25% of the Bills introduced were referred to committees in the 16th Lok Sabha, as compared to 71% and 60% in the 15th and 14th Lok Sabha respectively.
This represents a declining trend of national legislation being subjected to expert scrutiny.
How has the Parliamentary Committee evolved with time?
A structured committee system was only established in 1993. However, individual committees were formed for various reasons as far back as independence.
For instance, the Ad Hoc Committee on the Citizenship Clause was formed to discuss the nature and scope of Indian citizenship.
The Northeast Frontier (Assam) Tribal and Excluded Areas Sub-Committee (July 28, 1947) and the Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than Assam) Sub-Committee (August 18, 1947) were formed concerning the North-Eastern region.
Hence, committees have been doing monumental work since the independence of India.
Today, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha have their own Standing (permanent) Committees and Ad Hoc (need-based) Committees. There are also Joint Committees with representation from both Houses.
What are the roles performed by the Parliamentary Committees?
The committee reports are not binding on the government. The government is required to table an ‘Action Taken’ report for the House to judge the progress made on the suggestions of the committee.
The Business Advisory Committee prepares the entire schedule of both Houses when Parliament is in session. Papers laid on the table of the House are also prepared by committees.
Committees also go into issues that are crucial from a nation-building standpoint.
For instance, the Public Accounts Committee highlighted several concerns with the shipyards in a 2015 report which were not discussed in the Lok Sabha.
How has been the performance of Parliamentary Committees in recent years?
The most important work done by a committee in recent years is on the Digital Data Protection Bill.
Following the Puttaswamy judgment, the Justice Srikrishna Committee was formed and tasked with preparing a data protection framework for India.
The committee presented a report in 2018. On the basis of this report, the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019 was tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Other laws such as the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, etc. have also been referred to Parliamentary Committees.
What is the way ahead?
In the U.S., committees play a crucial role and Bills are referred to them post introduction for scrutiny. It allows changes to be made and the modified Bill to go for voting.
Therefore, the Parliament could consider a compulsory referral, for the Bills to the appropriate committees. It is also essential to institutionalize such procedures and not allow political considerations to hasten law-making.
