Concerns related to their functioning

While Committees have substantially impacted Parliament’s efficacy in discharging its roles, there is still scope for strengthening the Committee system. The rules do not require all Bills to be examined by a Committee. This leads to some Bills being passed without the advantage of a Committee scrutinising its technical details. Recently, there has been a declining trend in the percentage of Bills being referred to a Committee. In the 16th Lok Sabha, DRSCs examined 41 Bills, 331 Demands for Grants, 197 issues, and published 503 Action Taken Reports. In the 15th Lok Sabha, 71% of the Bills introduced were referred to Committees for examination, as compared to 27% in the 16th Lok Sabha. So far in the 17th Lok Sabha no Bill has been referred to a Committee yet. This raises concern over the diminishing importance of parliamentary committees and whether proper deliberations are taking place before the passage of various bills.