Parliamentary Committees: Public Accounts, Estimates, Public Undertakings and DRSCs (UPSC Notes + PYQs)

Background

A House of 543 or 245 members cannot study every Bill clause by clause or follow every rupee spent. Committees solve that problem. India’s system grew from colonial roots: the Public Accounts Committee was first set up in 1921 under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms, and the Estimates Committee in 1950 on the advice of Finance Minister John Mathai. The 17 Departmentally Related Standing Committees, later expanded to 24, began in 1993. Committees work away from the cameras, which lets members of different parties build consensus that is hard to find on the floor of the House.

Why committees exist

Parliament sits for well under a hundred days a year. It cannot read every clause of every Bill or every audit paragraph on the floor. Committees do that work quietly, away from television cameras, which is why members often cross party lines there. They draw their authority from Articles 105 and 118 and from the Rules of Procedure, not from a separate Article.

The financial committees

Ministers cannot be members of any of these three.

Departmentally Related Standing Committees

Started in 1993, there are now 24 DRSCs, each with 31 members (21 Lok Sabha, 10 Rajya Sabha). Eight are serviced by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat and sixteen by the Lok Sabha. They examine Demands for Grants, Bills referred to them, and annual reports of ministries. They cannot consider day-to-day administration.

Other committees to know

• Business Advisory Committee: fixes time for business.
• Committee of Privileges: examines breach of privilege.
• Committee on Petitions, Committee on Subordinate Legislation, Committee on Government Assurances.
• Joint Parliamentary Committees (ad hoc): e.g., on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill (2024) and the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill on simultaneous elections.

Committees in Prelims

Prelims likes membership numbers and who appoints whom. The Speaker appoints the chairs of Lok Sabha committees; the Rajya Sabha Chairman does so for committees under the Upper House. The Business Advisory Committee fixes the time for each item, the Committee on Government Assurances tracks promises made by ministers on the floor, and the Committee on Subordinate Legislation checks whether rules framed by ministries stay within the parent Act. The Committee on Petitions considers petitions from citizens on Bills and public matters. Remember too that the PAC examines spending after it happens, while the Estimates Committee looks at estimates before or during the year.

The concern: fewer Bills go to committees

PRS Legislative Research data show that the share of Bills referred to committees fell sharply after the 15th Lok Sabha. Committee scrutiny improves drafting and lets experts and citizens be heard. Mandatory referral of all Bills, as in several Westminster systems, is a reform worth quoting in Mains.

Financial committees compared

Ministers cannot be members of these committees.

Standing vs ad hoc committees

Standing committees are permanent and elected or nominated every year: the financial committees, the DRSCs, the Business Advisory Committee, the Committee of Privileges, the Rules Committee and others. Ad hoc committees are formed for a task and wind up when they report: select committees and Joint Parliamentary Committees on particular Bills, or inquiry JPCs such as those on the Bofors deal (1987) and the 2G spectrum allocation (2011). JPCs are set up by a motion in one House agreed to by the other.

Why committees matter and what weakens them

• They give detailed scrutiny that the floor cannot, and take evidence from experts and citizens.
• Their reports are recommendatory, so governments can ignore them, though “action taken reports” add some pressure.
• Members change often, attendance is uneven and research support is thin.
• Referral of Bills to committees is not mandatory; reform proposals include compulsory referral of most Bills and fixed tenure for members.

Parliamentary Committees: UPSC angle

Parliamentary Committees UPSC PYQs (Prelims)

Questions UPSC has actually asked, from the official papers. Pick an option to check yourself.

Mains PYQs on this topic

Questions from the official UPSC Mains papers (2023-2026 in the Battle IAS Mains bank), newest first. Each links to a model answer.

1. UPSC Mains 2023 · GS Paper II · Q16 · 15 marks

   Explain the structure of the Parliamentary Committee system. How far have the financial committees helped in the institutionalisation of Indian Parliament?

   Model answer and approach

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