Parliamentary Devices, Committees and Privileges

Prerequisites: Law-Making in Parliament

The Hook: Does Privilege Protect a Bribe?

The Core Concept

Parliament controls the executive through three channels: devices used on the floor, committees that scrutinise in detail, and privileges that let members do both without fear.

Question Hour and Zero Hour

Questions may also be addressed to private members on Bills or resolutions they are in charge of.

Motions

Other devices: point of order (raised when proceedings depart from the rules), half-an-hour discussion, short duration discussion (on matters of urgent public importance) and special mentions (Rajya Sabha; in the Lok Sabha, matters under Rule 377).

Parliamentary committees

Committees are either standing (permanent, constituted every year or periodically) or ad hoc (created for a purpose and dissolved after reporting, such as select committees and joint committees on Bills).

The three financial committees

Departmentally Related Standing Committees (DRSCs)

• Set up in 1993 (17 committees) and expanded to 24 in 2004.
• Each has 31 members — 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
• 16 function under the Lok Sabha and 8 under the Rajya Sabha.
• They examine demands for grants, Bills referred to them, annual reports and long-term policy documents of the ministries. They do not consider day-to-day administration.

Other standing committees include the Business Advisory Committee, the Committee of Privileges, the Committee on Petitions, the Committee on Government Assurances, the Committee on Subordinate Legislation, the Ethics Committees and the Committees on the Welfare of SCs and STs.

graph TD
    A[Parliamentary committees] --> B[Standing]
    A --> C[Ad hoc]
    B --> D[Financial: PAC, Estimates, Public Undertakings]
    B --> E[24 Departmentally Related Standing Committees]
    B --> F[Inquiry, scrutiny, service and house-keeping committees]
    C --> G[Inquiry committees]
    C --> H[Advisory: select and joint committees on Bills]

Parliamentary privileges (Article 105; Article 194 for States)

Privileges are special rights enjoyed by each House, its committees and its members, so that they can function without obstruction. They also extend to persons entitled to speak in the House, such as ministers and the Attorney General — but not to the President, who is part of Parliament but not a member.

• Article 105(3): other privileges were to be those of the British House of Commons until Parliament defined them — the 44th Amendment (1978) replaced this reference with “those of each House… at the commencement of” that amendment. Parliament has not codified privileges by law.
• Sita Soren (2024): bribery is outside the protection of Articles 105(2) and 194(2).

Memory Anchors

Lok Sabha–only motions: “All Night Long” → Adjournment and No-confidence — only in the Lok Sabha.

Indian innovations: “Zero hour and Calling attention — Zero Cost to the rules” → Zero Hour is not in the rules; calling attention is an Indian innovation that is.

Financial committees by numbers: “22-30-22” → PAC 22, Estimates 30 (all Lok Sabha), Public Undertakings 22.

DRSCs: “24 × 31 = 21 + 10” → 24 committees of 31 members each, 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.

One-line Mains hook: Question Hour is the time when the executive is answerable “in person” to the people’s representatives — the most direct form of accountability in a parliamentary system.

For Prelims

For Mains

• Dimensions: decline in the share of Bills referred to committees; disruption of Question Hour; uncodified privileges vs freedom of the press; the PAC’s role in financial accountability; the quality of debate and number of sittings.
• Keywords: legislative oversight, executive accountability, committee system, mini-Parliaments, codification of privileges, contempt of the House.
• Value-addition: Sita Soren (2024) on bribery and privilege; the 44th Amendment’s change to Article 105(3); the PAC’s convention of an Opposition chairman since 1967.

Common Traps

In the News

• March 2024 — Sita Soren v. Union of India: seven judges hold that legislators accused of bribery are not shielded by parliamentary privilege, overruling the 1998 P.V. Narasimha Rao judgment.
• June 2024 — the Lok Sabha again had a recognised Leader of the Opposition, a post that had remained vacant through the 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas (2014–2024).

Practice

Prelims

Mains

Quick Revision

Key Takeaways

Related Topics

• Law-Making in Parliament
• Parliament — quick revision
• Parliament — practice questions
• Constitutional Bodies
• Governance, Transparency and Accountability