LEGISLATURE

P ARLIAMENT DO ? A significant feature of the legislative process is the appointment of committees for various legislative purposes. These committees play a vital role not merely in law making, but also in the day-to-day business of the House. Since the Parliament meets only during sessions, it has very limited time at its disposal.

The making of law for instance requires in-depth study of the issue under consideration. This in turn demands more attention and time. Similarly, there are other important functions also, like studying the demands for grants made by various ministries, looking into expenditure incurred by various departments, investigating cases of corruption etc. Parliamentary committees perform such functions.

Since , India has developed a system of parliamentary standing committees. There are over twenty such departmentally related committees. Standing Committees supervise the work of various departments, their budget, their expenditure and bills that come up in the house relating to the department. Apart from standing committees, the Joint Parliamentary Committees have occupied a position of eminence in our country.

Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPCs) can be set up for the purpose of discussing a particular bill, like the joint committee to discuss being discussed, the role of the speaker, questions being asked, the political parties of the representatives, representatives from your region, nature of the issues of discussion – whether they were all of national or regional in character.