EDITORIALS & ARTICLES
Parliamentary committees must not be hijacked by politics
The recent goings-on in the standing committee on information technology has once again drawn attention to the system of standing committees, which is one of the major innovations of our parliamentary system of governance.
Parliamentary Committees
- The Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds - Standing Committees and ad hoc Committees.
- The former are elected or appointed every year or periodically and their work goes on, more or less, on a continuous basis.
- The latter are appointed on an ad hoc basis as need arises and they cease to exist as soon as they complete the task assigned to them.
- Standing Committees: Among the Standing Committees, the three Financial Committees (Committees on Estimates, Public Accounts and Public Undertakings) constitute a distinct group as they keep an unremitting vigil over Government expenditure and performance.
- The functions of these Committees are:
- To consider the Demands for Grants of various Ministries/Departments of Government of India and make reports to the Houses;
- To examine such Bills as are referred to the Committee by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha, as the case may be, and make reports thereon;
- To consider Annual Reports of ministries/departments and make reports thereon; and
- To consider policy documents presented to the Houses, if referred to the Committee by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha or the Speaker, Lok Sabha, as the case may be, and make reports thereon.
- The appointment, terms of office, functions and procedure of conducting business are also more or less similar and are regulated as per rules made by the two Houses under Article 118(1) of the Constitution.
Importance of Parliamentary Committees in Indian Political System
- Forum for complex parliamentary discussions: The Parliament deliberates on matters that are complex, and therefore needs technical expertise to understand such matters better.
- The Committees help with this by providing a forum where Members can engage with domain experts and government officials during the course of their study.
- Building consensus across political parties: The proceedings of the House during sessions are televised, and MPs are likely to stick to their party positions on most matters.
- The Committees have closed door meetings, which allow them to freely question and discuss issues and arrive at a consensus.
- Proper examination of policy issues: The committees also examine policy issues in their respective Ministries, and make suggestions to the government.
- The government has to report back on whether these recommendations have been accepted or not and based on this, the Committees then table an Action Taken Report, which shows status of the government’s action on each recommendation.
- Integral part of Parliament’s role in the debate: The standing committees provide a platform for MPs to track government expenditure, scrutinize policies and bills and seek expert advice.
- Huge reservoirs of information: Indian parliamentary committees are a huge reservoirs of information, which are made available to MPs in order to enlighten themselves, and contribute ideas to strengthen the parliamentary system and improve governance.
Challenges faced by Parliamentary Committees
- Mandatory to work behind closed doors: It is a pity that in this day and age of complete transparency, the committees are forced to function confidentially.
- It is one of the main reasons why their good work is not known outside Parliament.
- Declining trend in referring bills to Committees: In the 15th LS, 71% of the Bills introduced were referred to Committees for examination, as compared to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha.
- It leads to some Bills being passed without the advantage of a Committee scrutinizing its technical details.
- Time at its disposal is limited: The functions of Parliament are not only varied in nature, but considerable in volume.
- It cannot make very detailed scrutiny of all legislative and other matters that come up before it.
- Reduced working hours of committees: The standing committees under the first NDA government met for 145.5 hours less than the ones under the preceding United Progressive Alliance government.
- Diminished say in legislative matters: Ordinances are passed when Parliament is not in session and the government is required to take immediate action.
- No ordinance is allowed to be in force for more than six months without parliamentary approval.
- Partisanship curtailing deliberation: The political partisanship during the proceedings of committees have reduced its deliberation over important issues such as tracking the expenditure of ministries and, consequently, its ability to hold the government to account.
- The committee on home affairs saw political partisanship during its meeting on Kashmir post abrogation of Article 370.
- The restrictions in Jammu and Kashmir were ordered on August 5, 2019, and the bifurcation of the state into two Union Territories was officiated on October 30, 2019.
Measures to be adopted for Parliamentary Committees
- Power to ask for bills related to its area of operation: It should be given to parliamentary committee so that the issues regarding policy can be discussed in a holistic approach.
- Increase in number of meetings of committees: If the chairman of the Rajya Sabha and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha meet the chairmen of committees at least once in two months to discuss issues related to the committees, there will be a significant improvement in their functioning.
- Longer tenure for members: The committee system allows a smaller group of legislators to develop technical expertise on a particular subject and ensure better deliberation.
- In the present format, the members are nominated to a Standing Committee for one year.
- Research Support: To equip members to gain an in-depth understanding of issues and finally give sound and nuanced recommendations, it is important that quality research is made available to them.
- Reducing the number of standing committees: The NCRWC argues for trimming the number of Standing Committees and entrusting them with additional responsibilities of financial oversight and doing away with existing finance committees to avoid overlapping of work.
- Creation of Standing Committee on Economy: The NCRWC also makes a case for establishing Standing Committee on Economy providing space for deliberations on economic policies and its implementation separately.
Road ahead
- The committee proceedings are often publicly available or even live-streamed over the internet in some jurisdictions which would certainly allow the public to play a greater role in the functioning of these committees.
- The Parliamentary Committees serve as a forum of deliberation and are the backbone of our parliamentary system.
- Strengthening the committee system can go a long way in improving the quality of laws drafted and minimise potential implementation challenges.
- The need of the hour is for greater and effective utilization of Parliamentary Committees to strengthen Parliament as a deliberative body which can ensure effective oversight.
- The need for referring all bills to committee, longer tenure for members and strengthening committees with adequate research support also find mention in the National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC), 2002.
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