House Committees of Rajya Sabha

Why is in news? Vice-President appoints his staff on House Committees

Eight members of the personal staff of Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar have been appointed to 20 committees that come within the ambit of the Upper House.

The order released by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, raised eyebrows, since there is no past precedent of personal staff working on the committees.

Four of these staffers are employed with the Chairman’s office and four of them with the Vice-President’s Secretariat.

Each Standing Committee has an official of the rank of Additional Secretary or Joint Secretary assisting in its functioning who also attends the meetings, which are strictly confidential.

The House Committee, Rajya Sabha was first constituted on the 22nd May, 1952 and the Rules governing the Committee were framed during the year 1986.

The functions of the Committee, as enumerated in the “Rules of Procedure & Conduct of Business in Rajya Sabha” are - (a) to deal with all matters relating to residential accommodation of Members; (b) to exercise supervision over facilities for accommodation, telephone, food, medical aid and other amenities accorded to Members; and (c) to consider and provide such amenities to Members as may be deemed necessary from time to time.

Committees of Parliament:

A Parliamentary Committee is a panel of MPs that is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker/Chairman.

The committee works under the direction of the Speaker/chairman and it presents its report to the House or to the Speaker/chairman.

Parliamentary Committees have their origins in the British Parliament.

They draw their authority from Article 105 and Article 118.

Article 105 deals with the privileges of MPs.

Article 118 gives Parliament authority to make rules to regulate its procedure and conduct of business.

Various Committees of Parliament:

India’s Parliament has multiple types of committees. They can be differentiated on the basis of their work, their membership and the length of their tenure.

However, broadly there are two types of Parliamentary Committees– Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees.

The Standing Committees are permanent (constituted every year or periodically) and work on a continuous basis.

Standing Committees can be classified into the following six categories: Financial Committees, Departmental Standing Committees, Committees to Enquire, Committees to Scrutinise and Control, Committees Relating to the Day-to-Day Business of the House, House-Keeping Committees or Service Committees.

While the Ad Hoc Committees are temporary and cease to exist on completion of the task assigned to them.

They are further subdivided into Inquiry Committees and Advisory Committees.

The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills.