Standing committee
Topic: Parliamentary Procedure, Committees and Privileges · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 6 "The Parliamentary System: Legislature and Executive"
Meaning
A standing committee is a permanent parliamentary committee. Its members are elected or nominated afresh from time to time, often every year, but the committee itself goes on. Standing committees keep a constant watch on bills, budgets, spending and the work of government, and they make recommendations to the House. Because they are permanent, members build up knowledge of their subject over time.
Example
The Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates Committee and the 24 departmentally related standing committees (DRSCs) are all standing committees. DRSCs were first set up in 1993. In a Class 8 example, the Health Committee asked states to create separate Ayush departments.
Don't confuse with
- Ad hoc committee: set up for one task, such as a select committee on a bill or a JPC on a scandal, and dissolved once it reports.
Related concepts
- Parliamentary committee
- Ad hoc committee
- Public Accounts Committee
- Estimates Committee
- Committee on Public Undertakings