Importance of Parliamentary Committees

♤ The main purpose behind setting up these committees is to ensure the accountability of Government to Parliament through more detailed consideration of measures in these Committees.

♤ These Committees have had an important impact on the general toning up of debates and efficiency of functioning of Parliamentary system.

♤ They offer an opportunity to the members of the House to have glimpse into the working of Governments and understand the practical problems and constraints.

♤ Committees help with this by providing a forum where Members can engage with domain experts and government officials during the course of their study. For example, the Committee on Health and Family Welfare studied the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 which prohibits commercial surrogacy, but allows altruistic surrogacy. This helps them gain expertise and specialisation about the subjects dealt with by the Committees, which in turn is bound to result in elevating the standard of debate on the floor of the House.

♤ Committees also provide a forum for 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. Committees have closed door meetings, which allows them to freely question and discuss issues and arrive at a consensus.

♤ Parliamentary committees investigate issues and bills proposed so that the Parliament can be well informed before making a decision of national importance.

♤ It increases the ability of Parliament to scrutinize government policies and make it accountable

♤ The committees can make recommendations and amendments to the bill. These are not binding on the Parliament.

♤ In the past, we have seen that scrutiny by committees has helped resolve significant issues in Bills. For instance, the Prevention of Corruption Amendment Bill which has been pending in the Rajya Sabha since 2013. The Bill has been examined by two parliamentary committees and has gone through a number of iterations. This has resulted in significant issues in the Bill getting addressed.