“Parliament is being replaced by the committees in making laws,” Dr Yogendra Narain, former Secretary General of Rajya Sabha said here on Tuesday.

Claiming that the legislative business was not hampered due to frequent disruptions and adjournments of both the Houses of Parliament he said the bills were discussed threadbare in the Department related Parliamentary Standing Committees.

Thus even though these bills were not taken up for lengthy debates in the House there should not be any problem.

‘No irregularity’

“There is no Parliamentary irregularity in it as the committees have members from the Opposition as well,” Dr Narain said addressing an interface between the representatives from the Upper House and the media.

At present there are 24 Department-related committees out which 16 are under the Lok Sabha implying the chairpersons of those committees are appointed by the Speaker. The rest are under the  administrative control of the Chairman of Rajya Sabha.

Media coverage

Referring to a proposal that media should be allowed to cover the proceedings of these committees while important bills were debated there the former Secretary General said it could not be implemented due to reservations expressed by some MPs.

“Several MPs said that in case media covers the proceedings they will not be able to put their views openly as in many cases they may not be following their respective party line,” he said.

Origin

The origin of Committee system in India can be traced back to the Constitutional Reforms of 1919.
The Standing Orders of the Central Legislative Assembly provided for a Committee on Petitions relating to Bills, Select Committee on Amendments of Standing Orders, and Select Committee on Bills.

But all these committees were purely advisory in character and functioned under the control of the Government with the Minister-in-charge of the Department acting as the Chairman of the Committee.

Different scenario

However, the present scenario is quite different and experiences in Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States have shown that a comprehensive Committee system enables a Legislature to take up new problems more readily as they arise and provides for members to gain experience on important subjects.

The result of this is that they can exert power and influence in areas they would not otherwise have.