Context
Parliamentary Committees are the “mini-Parliament” where legislative work is examined in detail. Among them, Standing Committees are permanent committees constituted annually or periodically, working continuously to support Parliament in legislation, oversight, and accountability.
Types of Parliamentary Committees
- Standing Committees – Permanent in nature, reconstituted every year.
- Ad hoc Committees – Temporary, dissolved after completing their assigned work (e.g., Joint Parliamentary Committee on 2G Scam).
Key Standing Committees
- Financial Committees (most important for UPSC):
- Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
- Estimates Committee
- Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU)
- Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs):
- Introduced in 1993.
- Currently 24 DRSCs covering all ministries/departments.
- Each consists of 31 members (21 Lok Sabha + 10 Rajya Sabha).
- Examine Demands for Grants, bills, annual reports, and long-term policy documents of ministries.
- Other Standing Committees:
- Rules Committee.
- Business Advisory Committee.
- Committee on Privileges.
- Committee on Government Assurances.
- Committee on Subordinate Legislation, etc.
Functions
- Scrutiny of Bills: Examine bills referred to them, recommend changes.
- Budget Oversight: DRSCs consider Demands for Grants of ministries before Lok Sabha debates them.
- Accountability of Executive: PAC examines CAG reports on government expenditure.
- Policy Review: Analyse government policies/programmes, suggest reforms.
- Expert Consultation: Allow for consultation with stakeholders, experts, civil society.
Significance
- Ensures detailed, non-partisan examination of legislative and financial business.
- Provides a forum for consensus-building between ruling and opposition parties.
- Reduces workload of Parliament and allows for technical scrutiny.
- Strengthens executive accountability.
Limitations
- Recommendations are advisory, not binding on government.
- Not all bills are referred to committees (major bills sometimes passed without scrutiny).
- Lack of dedicated research staff hampers in-depth analysis.
- Frequent absenteeism by MPs affects productivity.
Recent Developments
- Calls for greater referral of bills to Standing Committees (currently only ~25–30% bills are referred).
- Proposals to give committees more teeth by making their recommendations binding in certain areas.
- Standing Committees have been especially important in scrutinising complex bills like GST, Data Protection, and Environmental issues.