In a parliamentary democracy like India, a bill can be introduced in either house of Parliament. Once introduced, it undergoes several stages such as the committee stage and presidential assent, before it becomes a law.
The recently introduced One Nation, One Election bill in the Lok Sabha will now be reviewed by a 39-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). Such parliamentary committees play a major role in the legislative process.
Role of Parliamentary Committees
The Committee system in India originated with the Constitutional Reforms of 1919. Article 105 of the Indian Constitution recognizes committees of the Houses of Parliament. They consist of the members of Parliament – both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. They scrutinize bills, examine government policies and oversee the functioning of government departments. The reports of these Committees are published and presented to the Houses of Parliament and they have a persuasive value.
Types of Parliamentary Committees
Parliamentary Committees are of two types – Standing Committees and Ad hoc Committees.
Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees which are constituted from time to time. The Parliamentary Standing Committee makes the executive accountable to it on certain issues.
On the other hand, Ad hoc Committees are formed for a specific purpose. They are dissolved once they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report.
Judiciary on Parliamentary Committees
In the case of Kalpana Mehta v Union of India, the Supreme Court observed, “Parliamentary Committees are an intrinsic part of the process by which the elected legislature in a democracy exacts accountability on the part of the government…Reports of Parliamentary Committees become part of the published record of the State. As a matter of principle, there is no reason or justification to exclude them from the purview of the judicial process, for purposes such as understanding the historical background of a law, the nature of the problem, the causes of a social evil and the remedies which may provide answers to intractable problems of governance.”
In Jyoti Harshad Mehta v. Custodian and others, the Supreme Court held that reports of the Joint Parliamentary Committee are admissible only for the purpose of tracing the legal history of the legislation.