List of Indian parliamentary committees

The Parliamentary committees are established to study and deal with various matters that cannot be directly handled by the legislature due to their volume. They also monitor the functioning of the executive branch.[1]

The Parliamentary committees are of two kinds – standing or permanent committees and ad hoc committees. The former are elected or appointed periodically and they work on a continuous basis. The latter are created on an ad hoc basis as the need arises and they are dissolved after they complete the task assigned to them.[1]

Standing committees

A standing committee is a committee consisting of Members of Parliament. It is a permanent and regular committee which is constituted from time to time according to the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. The work done by the Indian Parliament is not only voluminous but also of a complex nature, hence a good deal of its work is carried out in these Parliamentary committees.

Standing committees are of the following kinds :

1. Financial standing committees (FSC)
2. Department related standing committees (DRSC)
3. Other standing committees (OSC)

Financial standing committees

There are three important standing committees dealing with financial affairs. These committees involve further sub-committees.

1. Public Accounts Committee – It examines various expenditure reports and accounts under the purview of the Parliament. Till 1966-67, a senior member of the ruling party used to be appointed by the Speaker as Chairman of the Committee. In 1967, however, for the first time, a member from the Opposition in Lok Sabha, was appointed as the chairperson of the committee by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. This practice continues till date.
2. Estimates Committee – The committee on Estimates, constituted for the first time in 1950, is a committee consisting of 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha from amongst its Members.
3. Public Undertakings Committee – It analyses the accounts, and workings of the state owned PSU firms. It also keeps a check on the disinvestment policies of the various PSUs.

Finance Committees Details for the 16^th Lok Sabha (2014 – 2019) ; Updated as of August 2018 [2][3][4][5]

S.No.	Committee	Chairperson	Composition	Tenure	Nominated / elected	Sub-committees
1	Public Accounts Committee	MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury	22 members (15 LS + 7 RS)	1 Year	Elected from Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha MPs	Sub-Committee – I : Non Compliance in Timely submission of Action Taken Notes on the Non-selected Audit Paragraphs & Excess Expenditure Sub-Committee – II : Direct and Indirect Taxes Sub-Committee – III : Implementation of Recommendations of PAC Sub-Committee – IV : Railways
2	Estimates Committee	MP Girish Bapat	30 members (LS)	1 Year	Elected from Lok Sabha MPs	Sub-Committee – I : Drought situation in the country pertaining to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sub-Committee – II : Education with special reference to the recent development regarding autonomy in Education
3	Public Undertakings Committee	MP Meenakshi Lekhi	22 members (15 LS + 7 RS)	1 Year	Elected from Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha MPs	*Currently None*

Department-related standing committees

During the year 1989 – 8th Lok Sabha the Rules Committee considered and approved a proposal that three subject committees, on (i) Agriculture; (ii) Environment & Forests; and (iii) Science & Technology. The rules relating to these committees were finally approved by the House and the committees were formally constituted with effect from 18 August, 1989.

The Reports of Rules Committees of the 10th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adopted by the two Houses on 29 March, 1993 paved the way for the setting up of the 17 departmentally related standing committees covering under their jurisdiction all the Ministries/Departments of the Union Government.

These DRSCs replaced the earlier three subject committees constituted in August, 1989. The 17 departmentally related standing committees were formally constituted with effect from April, 1993. After experiencing the working of the DRSC system for over a decade, the system was re-structured in July, 2004 wherein the number of DRSCs was increased from 17 to 24. Till 13th Lok Sabha, each of these standing committees used to consist of 45 members— 30 nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of Lok Sabha and 15 members nominated by the Chairman, Rajya Sabha from amongst the members of Rajya Sabha. However, with re-structuring of DRSCs in July, 2004 each DRSC consists of 31 members—21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.

There are 24 department-related standing committees (DRSCs). Each of these committees have 31 members – 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. These members are to be nominated by the Speaker of Lok Sabha or the Chairman of Rajya Sabha respectively. The term of office of these committees does not exceed one year. These committees are serviced either by Lok Sabha secretariat or the Rajya Sabha secretariat, depending on who has appointed the chairman of that committee.

Department-related Standing Committees Details for the 16^th Lok Sabha (2014 – 2019) ; Updated as of August 2018 [5][6][7]

S.No.	Committee	Ministries	Chairperson	Tenure	Chairman nominated by
1	Committee on Agriculture [8]	Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Food Processing Industries Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries	MP Hukmdev Narayan Yadav	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
2	Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers [9]	Chemicals and Fertilizers	MP Anandrao Vithoba Adsul	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
3	Committee on Coal and Steel [10]	Coal Mines Steel	MP Rakesh Singh	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
4	Committee on Commerce	Commerce and Industry	MP V. Vijayasai Reddy	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
5	Committee on Defence	Defence	MP Kalraj Mishra	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
6	Committee on Energy	Power New and Renewable Energy	MP Kambhampati Hari Babu	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
7	Committee on External Affairs	External Affairs	MP P. P. Chaudhary	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
8	Committee on Finance	Finance Planning (NITI Aayog Corporate Affairs Statistics and Programme Implementation	MP Veerappa Moily	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
9	Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution	Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution	MP J. C. Diwakar Reddy	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
10	Committee on Health and Family Welfare	Health and Family Welfare AYUSH	MP Ram Gopal Yadav	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
11	Committee on Home Affairs	Home Affairs Development of North Eastern Region	MP P. Chidambaram	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
12	Committee on Human Resource Development	Human Resource Development Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Women and Child Development Youth Affairs and Sports	MP Satyanarayan Jatiya	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
13	Committee on Industry	Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises	MP Ramchandra Prasad Singh	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
14	Committee on Information Technology	Communications Electronics and Information Technology Information and Broadcasting	MP Shashi Tharoor	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
15	Committee on Labour	Labour and Employment Textiles	MP Kirit Somaiya	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
16	Committee on Personnel, Public Governances, Law and Justice	Law and Justice Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions	MP Bhupender Yadav	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
17	Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas	Petroleum and Natural Gas	MP Pralhad Joshi	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
18	Committee on Railways	Railways	MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
19	Committee on Rural Development	Rural Development Panchayati Raj	MP Ponnusamy Venugopal	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
20	Committee on Science & Technology and Environment & Forests	Science and Technology Atomic Energy Space Earth Sciences Environment, Forests and Climate Change	MP Anand Sharma	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
21	Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment	Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minority Affairs	MP Ramesh Bais	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
22	Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture	Civil Aviation Culture Road Transport and Highways Shipping Tourism	MP Derek O’Brien	1 year	Chairman of Rajya Sabha
23	Committee on Urban Development	Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs	MP Pinaki Misra	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha
24	Committee on Water Resources	Ministry of Jal Shakti	MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy	1 year	Speaker of Lok Sabha

Other standing committees

Other Standing Committees Details for the 16^th Lok Sabha (2014 – 2019) ; Updated as of August 2018 [5][11]

S.No.	Committee	Chairperson	Composition	Tenure	Nominated / elected
1	Business Advisory Committee	MP Sumitra Mahajan	15 members	Not fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted.	Nominated
2	Committee of Privileges	MP Meenakshi Lekhi	15 members	Not fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted.	Nominated
3	Committee on Absence of Members from the sittings of the House	MP P. Karunakaran	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
4	Committee on Empowerment of Women	MP Bijoya Chakravarty	30 members (20 LS+ 10 RS)	1 Year	Nominated
5	Committee on Government Assurances	MP Ramesh Pokhriyal	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
6	Committee on Papers Laid on the Table	MP Chandrakant Khaire	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
7	Committee on Petitions	MP Bhagat Singh Koshyari	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
8	Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions	MP M. Thambidurai	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
9	Committee on Subordinate Legislation	MP Dilipkumar Gandhi	15 members	1 Year	Nominated
10	General Purposes Committee **	MP Sumitra Mahajan	Varies	Not fixed.	Ex-Officio
11	House Committee	MP Suresh Angadi	12 members	1 Year	Nominated
12	Joint Committee on Offices of Profit	MP Kalraj Mishra	15 members (10 LS+ 5 RS)	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	Elected
13	Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowance of MPs	MP Bandaru Dattatreya	15 members (10 LS+ 5 RS)	1 Year	Nominated
14	Library Committee	MP Prem Das Rai	9 members (6 LS+ 3 RS)	1 Year	Nominated
15	Rules Committee	MP Sumitra Mahajan	15 members	Not fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted.	Nominated
16	Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes	MP Kirit Premjibhai Solanki	30 members (20 LS+ 10 RS)	1 Year	Elected

** In each House there is a GPC. All members are ex-officio members by virtue of being chairmen of respective standing committees and leaders of respective parties.

Ad hoc committees

As of August 2018, the following ad hoc committees are in operation:

Ad hoc Committees Details for the 16^th Lok Sabha (2014 – 2019) ; Updated as of August 2018 [5][12][13]

S.No.	Committee	Chairperson	Tenure	Composition
1	Committee on Ethics	MP L. K. Advani	1 year	15 members (15 LS )
2	Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex	MP A. P. Jithender Reddy	1 Year	15 members (10 LS + 5 RS)
3	Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National leaders and Parliamentarians	MP Sumitra Mahajan	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	12 members (8 LS + 4 RS)
4	Committee on MP Local Area Development Scheme	MP M. Thambidurai	1 Year	24 members
5	Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Lok Sabha	MP P. Kumar	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	10 members
6	Joint Committee on Maintenance of Heritage Character and Development of Parliament House Complex	MP Sumitra Mahajan	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	10 members (7 LS + 3 RS)
7	Joint Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex	MP Sumitra Mahajan	1 Year	10 members (7 LS + 3 RS)
8	Railway Convention Committee	MP Bhartruhari Mahtab	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	18 members (12 LS + 6 RS)
9	Committee on Violation of Protocol Norms and Contemptuous Behaviour of Government Officers with Members of Lok Sabha	MP Rayapati Sambasiva Rao	For the duration of one Lok Sabha	15 members
10	Committee to Inquiry into the Improper Conduct of a Member	MP Kirit Somaiya	**For the year 2016 only**	9 members

Notable ad hoc committees

The Government of India has appointed a number of committees ad-hoc committees. Some of the notable ad-hoc committees are as follows :

Pre-independence

Committee	Appointed in	Submitted report in	Mandate	Recommendations
Rowlatt Committee	1918

After Independence

Committee	Appointed in	Submitted report in	Summary	Report
Shah Nawaz Committee	1955	1956	The three-member committee was formed by the Nehru-government to address the public demand to investigate the disappearance of Subhas Chandra Bose. The committee was led by Shah Nawaz Khan, and included Suresh Chandra Bose, brother of Subhas, and S. N. Maitra.[14]	The committee came to the conclusion that Bose was killed in a plane crash. But, Suresh Chandra Bose did not agree with the report.[15]
Balwant Rai Mehta Committee	1957	1957	Examine the working of the Community Development Programme and the National Extension Service	Establishment of the scheme of 'democratic decentralisation' (Panchayati Raj)
Ashok Mehta Committee	1977	1978	In December 1977, the Janata Government appointed a committee on Panchayati Raj institutions under the chairmanship of Ashoka Mehta.	The committee submitted its report in August 1978 and made 132 recommendations to revive and strengthen the declining Panchayati Raj system in the country
Narasimham Committee	1998	1998
Sachar Committee	2005	2006	Examine social, economic and educational condition of the Muslim community of India
Srikrishna Committee	2010	2010	The committee was formed to look into the demand for separate statehood for Telangana or keep the State united in the present form, Andhra Pradesh.
Naresh Chandra Committee		2012	Defence reforms

See also

• Standing committees of India
• List of Indian commissions

References

1. "Parliamentary Committees". Parliament of India. Archived from the original on 24 July 2012. Retrieved 6 August 2012.
2. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
3. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
4. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
5. "Loksabha Introduction – Committees" (PDF).
6. "PRS | Parliament Track | Parliamentary Committees | Composition of Standing Committees". www.prsindia.org. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
7. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
8. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
9. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
10. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
11. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
12. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
13. "Committee : Loksabha". 164.100.47.194. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
14. Sugata Bose (2011). His Majesty’s Opponent. Harvard University Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-674-04754-9. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
15. Kingshuk Nag (18 November 2015). Netaji: Living Dangerously. AuthorsUpFront. p. 29. ISBN 978-93-84439-70-5. Retrieved 11 March 2016.