The committee system and the financial committees

Detail

What a parliamentary committee is and why it exists

• Parliamentary committee: a small group of MPs. It studies bills, budgets or issues in depth, often between sittings of the House.
• Class 11 calls committees "miniature legislatures" (small versions of the House). The House rarely rejects what they suggest.
• Why the House needs them:
• Short sessions. Parliament meets for only part of the year. There is no time to study every bill line by line on the floor.
• Large House. The Lok Sabha has over 500 members. Detailed study needs a small group.
• Expertise. Committees call officials and experts and examine documents.

• Cross-party work. Committees meet away from the cameras and the public gallery. MPs can agree across party lines without playing to the audience.

• Legal base: each House makes its own Rules of Procedure under Article 118. Committees are formed under these rules. Committee proceedings share the privileges of the House (Article 105).

• The Lok Sabha's Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business make the Public Accounts Committee a yearly body under Rule 308 [2].

Types of committees

Basis	Type	Meaning	Examples
Life span	Standing committee	Permanent. Its members are changed or re-elected from time to time (often every year)	PAC, Estimates Committee, departmentally related standing committees
Life span	Ad hoc committee	Set up for one task. It ends when it submits its report	Select committee or joint committee on a bill, inquiry committees
Function	Financial	Watch over public money	PAC, Estimates, Committee on Public Undertakings
Function	Departmental	Each one watches over a group of ministries	Departmentally related standing committees
Function	Inquiry, scrutiny	Look into complaints or check how the government works	Committee on Petitions, Committee on Subordinate Legislation
Function	Business, house-keeping	Help the House run itself	Business Advisory Committee, House Committee

• Select committee: an ad hoc committee of one House that studies a single bill clause by clause.
• Joint committee: the same kind of committee, but with members from both Houses.

Departmentally related standing committees (DRSCs), since 1993

• DRSC: a standing committee that watches over a group of ministries and departments. It examines their budget demands, bills and policies.
• 1993: Parliament set up 17 DRSCs. Each had 30 Lok Sabha and 15 Rajya Sabha members [3].
• Later: the number grew to 24. 8 work under the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha and 16 under the Speaker of the Lok Sabha [3].
• Fewer bills now go to committees. Share of bills sent to committees:
• 14th Lok Sabha (2004–09): 60%
• 15th Lok Sabha (2009–14): 71%
• 16th Lok Sabha (2014–19): 25%
• 17th Lok Sabha (2019–24): 16% [4]

What happens to committee reports

• Advisory, not binding. The government does not have to accept what a committee recommends.
• Accountability still works through action-taken replies. The ministry must say what it did about each recommendation. The committee then reports on those replies.
• Class 8 example (Health Standing Committee):
• The committee recommended that states set up separate Ayush departments.

• The ministry replied that public health is a state subject (State List, Seventh Schedule). So the Union could only advise the states.

• Kalpana Mehta v. Union of India (2018):

• Five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, decided on 9 May 2018 [5].
• In cases under Article 32 (going straight to the Supreme Court for fundamental rights) or Article 136 (special leave to appeal), the Court can take judicial notice of a committee report (accept it as an official record without separate proof) [5].
• The report cannot be challenged or questioned in court [5].
• A report can help the Court understand what a law means. But if the facts are in dispute, facts in the report do not count as proved on their own. The Court decides on the evidence placed before it [5].

Public Accounts Committee (PAC)

• Origin: first set up in 1921 under the Government of India Act 1919 (Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms).
• Rule: set up every year under Rule 308 of the Lok Sabha Rules [2].
• Members: 22, made up of 15 Lok Sabha and 7 Rajya Sabha members [2][6].
• They are elected every year by proportional representation through the single transferable vote (voters rank candidates in order of choice, so smaller parties also win seats in proportion to their strength).
• Ministers cannot be members.

• Chair: by convention since 1967, the chair is an opposition MP. The Speaker appoints the chair.

• What it examines [2]:

• Appropriation Accounts: they show whether money was spent on the purpose Parliament voted it for.
• Finance Accounts: the government's yearly accounts of what it received and paid.
• Any other accounts laid before the House that the committee thinks fit.

• Mainly it works through the CAG's audit reports.

• Three tests it applies:

• Authority: was the money spent as Parliament allowed?
• Legality: was it spent according to law and rules?

• Propriety: was it spent wisely and honestly?

• Excess grants: when a ministry spends more than Parliament granted, the PAC examines the excess. The Lok Sabha regularises it only after the PAC recommends it (Article 115 deals with excess grants).

• CAG link: the CAG (Article 148) is called the PAC's "friend, philosopher and guide". The CAG's reports go to the President (Article 151), who lays them before Parliament, and the PAC then takes them up. See constitutional-bodies.
• Limits:
• Post-mortem. It looks at money that has already been spent.
• It cannot question policy. It checks only how the money was spent.
• Its findings are advisory.
• It cannot stop wrong spending on the spot.

Estimates Committee

• Origin: comes from the Standing Financial Committee of 1921. It was first set up in 1950 on Finance Minister John Mathai's recommendation.
• Members: 30, all from the Lok Sabha, elected by the House [6]. The Rajya Sabha has no members on it.

• Elected every year by proportional representation (single transferable vote). Ministers cannot be members.

• Work: it examines the budget estimates of selected departments in detail [6]. It suggests:

• economies (ways to save money);
• better efficiency in organisation and working;
• alternative policies, but only within the policy Parliament has already approved;

• how the estimates should be presented to Parliament.

• It is called the "continuous economy committee" because it keeps looking for savings all year.

• Limits:
• It works after the budget is voted. Its findings cannot change the year's grants.
• It picks only a few ministries each year.
• Its findings are advisory.

Committee on Public Undertakings (CoPU)

• Origin: set up in 1964 on the Krishna Menon Committee's advice.
• Rule: Rule 312B of the Lok Sabha Rules [7].
• Members: not more than 22, made up of 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and 7 by the Rajya Sabha [7]. Ministers cannot be members.
• Functions [7]:
• It examines the reports and accounts of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) listed in the Fourth Schedule to the Lok Sabha Rules.
• It examines the CAG's reports on these PSUs.

• It checks whether PSUs are run on sound business principles and prudent commercial practice, while keeping their autonomy (freedom to run themselves) and efficiency in mind.

• Excluded: it cannot look at major government policy, or at the day-to-day running of PSUs.

• Limits: it covers only listed PSUs, and only a few each year. Its findings are advisory.

The three financial committees compared

Feature	PAC	Estimates Committee	CoPU
First set up	1921 (GoI Act 1919)	1950 (John Mathai)	1964 (Krishna Menon Committee)
Members	22 (15 LS + 7 RS)	30 (all LS)	22 (15 LS + 7 RS)
Lok Sabha rule	Rule 308 [2]	Lok Sabha Rules	Rule 312B [7]
Main input	CAG audit reports	Budget estimates	PSU reports, accounts and CAG audits
Timing	After spending (post-mortem)	After the budget is voted	After the event
Question of policy	Cannot question it	Suggests alternatives within approved policy	Excludes major policy
Chair	Opposition MP (convention since 1967)	Ruling side, by practice	Speaker appoints

Prelims Hooks

• PAC has 22 members (15 LS + 7 RS). The Estimates Committee has 30, all from the Lok Sabha. The CoPU has 22 (15 LS + 7 RS). Trap: the Estimates Committee has no Rajya Sabha members.
• PAC: first set up in 1921 under the GoI Act 1919. Estimates Committee: 1950 (John Mathai). CoPU: 1964 (Krishna Menon Committee).
• PAC chair from the opposition is a convention since 1967, not a constitutional rule.
• The CAG is the PAC's "friend, philosopher and guide". The PAC examines Appropriation and Finance Accounts under Rule 308 [2].
• The "continuous economy committee" is the Estimates Committee, not the PAC.
• The CoPU examines PSUs listed in the Fourth Schedule to the Lok Sabha Rules, not the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution (Rule 312B) [7].
• DRSCs: 17 in 1993, now 24. 8 work under the Rajya Sabha Chairman and 16 under the Lok Sabha Speaker [3].
• Kalpana Mehta (2018): courts can take judicial notice of committee reports, but the reports cannot be challenged in court [5].
• Share of bills sent to committees fell from 71% (15th Lok Sabha) to 16% (17th Lok Sabha) [4].

Mains Points

• Committees as tools of accountability. Committees make up for short sessions and a crowded floor. They give MPs time, expertise and cross-party work away from the cameras. That is why they are called "miniature legislatures". Action-taken replies keep ministries answerable even though the reports are advisory.
• Weakening scrutiny. The share of bills sent to committees fell from 60% (14th Lok Sabha) and 71% (15th) to 25% (16th) and 16% (17th) [4]. Reform idea: make it compulsory to send major bills to committees, instead of leaving it to the Speaker or Chairman.
• Limits of financial control.
• The PAC works only after the money is spent and cannot question policy.
• The Estimates Committee works after the budget is voted.
• The CoPU cannot look at major policy.
• All three can only advise.

• Reform ideas: give action-taken reports a time limit, debate PAC reports on the floor, and give committees more research staff.

• Courts and committees. Kalpana Mehta (2018) balances two things. Committee reports can help courts understand laws. But they cannot be challenged in court, which respects Article 105 privileges and the separation of powers [5].