Parliamentary Committees, Devices and Privileges

Why committees?

Parliament meets for limited days and handles a huge volume of complex business. Committees – small groups of members, appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the presiding officer, working under the presiding officer's direction and reporting to the House – allow detailed, less partisan scrutiny. They are mentioned in the Constitution but their composition and functions come from the Rules of Procedure of each House.

Committees are of two kinds: standing committees (permanent, constituted every year or periodically) and ad hoc committees (temporary, dissolved after their task – e.g. select and joint committees on bills, or inquiry committees).

Financial committees

1. Public Accounts Committee (PAC) – set up in 1921 under the Montford reforms. It has 22 members – 15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha – elected each year by proportional representation by single transferable vote. A minister cannot be a member. Since 1967 the chairman is, by convention, from the opposition, appointed by the Speaker. Its function is to examine the annual audit reports of the CAG – on appropriation accounts, finance accounts and public undertakings – to see whether money was spent as Parliament intended. The CAG acts as its "friend, philosopher and guide". It can examine only expenditure already incurred (post-mortem), not policy, and its recommendations are advisory.

2. Estimates Committee – the largest committee, with 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha. Its origin goes to a Standing Financial Committee of 1921; the first Estimates Committee after independence was set up in 1950 on John Mathai's recommendation. It suggests "economies" in expenditure and examines whether money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates. Called a "continuous economy committee".

3. Committee on Public Undertakings – 22 members (15 LS + 7 RS), created in 1964 on the Krishna Menon Committee's recommendation. It examines the reports and accounts of public sector undertakings and CAG reports on them.

Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs)

On the recommendation of the Rules Committee of the Lok Sabha, 17 DRSCs were set up in 1993, increased to 24 in 2004. Each has 31 members – 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha (8 committees work under the Rajya Sabha Chairman and 16 under the Speaker). A minister cannot be a member. Their functions: consider demands for grants of their ministries before discussion in the House, examine bills referred to them, consider annual reports, and examine long-term policy documents. They do not consider day-to-day administration. Their reports are recommendatory. DRSCs help Parliament scrutinise the executive more continuously and give members expertise.

Other important committees

• Business Advisory Committee – fixes the timetable of the House; chaired by the Speaker (LS) or Chairman (RS).
• Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions (LS).
• Committees to inquire: Committee on Petitions; Committee of Privileges (examines cases of breach of privilege; 15 members in LS, 10 in RS); Ethics Committee (RS 1997, LS 2000).
• Committees to scrutinise and control: Committee on Government Assurances (whether ministers' promises are fulfilled); Committee on Subordinate Legislation (whether rules and regulations made by the executive stay within delegated powers); Committee on Papers Laid on the Table; Committee on Welfare of SCs and STs; Committee on Empowerment of Women.
• Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) – ad hoc committees on specific issues, such as the Bofors deal (1987), the securities scam (1992), the 2G spectrum (2011), and on major bills (e.g. the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024).

Parliamentary devices

• Question Hour – the first hour of a sitting. Starred questions (marked with an asterisk) need an oral answer, and supplementary questions can follow; unstarred questions need a written answer, with no supplementaries; short notice questions are asked with less than 10 days' notice and answered orally. Questions can also be addressed to private members.
• Zero Hour – an Indian innovation (since 1962), not in the rules; the time immediately after Question Hour when members raise matters without prior notice.
• Calling attention motion – draws a minister's attention to a matter of urgent public importance (an Indian innovation since 1954; in the rules).
• Adjournment motion – introduced only in the Lok Sabha, to discuss a definite matter of urgent public importance; needs the support of 50 members; involves an element of censure; discussion lasts at least two and a half hours.
• No-confidence motion (Rule 198) – moved only in the Lok Sabha, needs the support of 50 members; no reasons need be stated; if passed, the Council of Ministers must resign. (The Constitution does not mention it; it flows from Article 75's collective responsibility.)
• Censure motion – must state reasons; can be against an individual minister or the Council; if passed, the Council need not resign but must seek the confidence of the House.
• Motion of thanks – on the President's address; its defeat amounts to defeat of the government.
• Half-an-hour discussion, short-duration discussion (also called a two-hour discussion), cut motions, point of order, privilege motion (moved against a minister for breach of privilege, e.g. by withholding or distorting facts), and special mention (RS) or Rule 377 notices (LS).

Sessions: Normally three a year – Budget (February–May), Monsoon (July–September) and Winter (November–December). The gap between two sessions cannot exceed six months (Article 85). Adjournment suspends a sitting (by the presiding officer); prorogation ends a session (by the President); dissolution ends the life of the Lok Sabha. Bills pending in the Lok Sabha lapse on dissolution; a bill pending in the Rajya Sabha that has not been passed by the Lok Sabha does not lapse.

Parliamentary privileges (Article 105)

Privileges are special rights, immunities and exemptions enjoyed by the Houses, their committees and members, so they can perform their functions effectively. They also extend to persons entitled to speak in Parliament, such as the Attorney General and Union ministers – but not to the President.

Individual privileges: freedom of speech in Parliament – no member is liable in any court for anything said or any vote given in Parliament or its committees (subject to the Constitution and rules; Article 121 bars discussing the conduct of judges); freedom from arrest in civil cases during the session and 40 days before and after it (not in criminal or preventive detention cases); exemption from jury service; and immunity from being summoned as a witness while Parliament is in session.

Collective privileges: the right to publish its reports, debates and proceedings and to prohibit others from publishing them (the 44th Amendment restored the freedom of the press to publish true reports of proceedings without prior permission – except of secret sittings); the right to exclude strangers and hold secret sittings; to make rules for its procedure; to punish members and outsiders for breach of privilege or contempt; to receive immediate information of the arrest, detention or release of a member; and to prohibit courts from inquiring into its proceedings (Article 122).

Sources: Article 105 itself, Parliamentary laws, rules of both Houses, conventions and judicial interpretation. Privileges have not been codified; Article 105(3) originally linked them to those of the British House of Commons, which the 44th Amendment replaced with a reference to the Houses' own privileges as on that date.

Bribery and privilege: In P.V. Narasimha Rao (1998) the Court held that MPs who took bribes and voted in Parliament were immune. A seven-judge bench overruled this in Sita Soren (2024), holding that bribery is not protected by parliamentary privilege, because taking a bribe is complete when the bribe is accepted, regardless of the vote.

Common traps

• PAC: 22 members (15 LS + 7 RS); Estimates Committee: 30, all LS.
• DRSCs: 24, each with 31 members (21 + 10).
• Adjournment and no-confidence motions can be moved only in the Lok Sabha, each needs 50 members.
• Zero Hour is not mentioned in the rules; it is an Indian innovation.
• Freedom from arrest applies only in civil cases.
• Sita Soren (2024): no immunity for bribery.