Examine the role of Parliamentary Committees in the scrutiny of legislation, citing recent instances of Bill referral.

Parliamentary Committees — Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs), Joint and Select Committees — function as "mini-Parliaments," examining Bills clause by clause away from partisan glare. Since referral is discretionary, not mandatory, the quality of legislative scrutiny turns on how often this route is used.

Scrutiny functions performed

• Detailed examination: a Bill referred by the Speaker or Chairman is studied over roughly three months, with newspaper advertisements inviting public feedback [2].
• Stakeholder and expert consultation: committees summon ministries, regulators and domain experts — the Health Committee on the Surrogacy Bill heard the National Commission for Women, doctors and officials [2].
• Consensus beyond party lines: closed-door meetings free members from the whip, allowing merit-based debate [2].
• Improving statutory text: several committee recommendations on the National Medical Commission Bill were incorporated before enactment [2].

Recent instances of referral

• The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on simultaneous elections were referred to a 39-member Joint Committee (Chair: P.P. Chaudhary) — recognition that constitutional change needs extended deliberation [3].
• By contrast, in the Monsoon Session, 2026, all 12 Bills passed by both Houses cleared without committee reference; only the Public Examinations (Prevention of Unfair Means) Amendment Bill, 2026 was actually debated [1]. Two Bills replacing the Supreme Court (Number of Judges) and Income-Tax Ordinances were passed similarly [1].

Limitations

• Referral remains optional, so urgency or majority strength can bypass it [2].
• Reports are recommendatory; low attendance and thin research support weaken output [4].
• With productivity at ~19% in Lok Sabha and ~39% in Rajya Sabha, floor scrutiny cannot compensate [1].

Committees thus supply the deliberative depth that disrupted floor time cannot. Making referral of substantive Bills the default, fixing tenures, and strengthening research assistance — as long urged in institutional reviews — would restore Parliament's deliberative core, fulfilling the accountability the Constitution envisages for the legislature.