1

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

India has adopted parliamentary form of democracy and

the two words – Parliamentary and Democracy are important

features of our Political System. The term ‘Parliamentary’ refers

specifically to a kind of democratic polity wherein the supreme

power vests in the body of people’s representatives called

Parliament. The Parliamentary system is one in which the

Parliament enjoys a place of primacy in the governance of the

State. Under the Constitution of India, the Union Legislature is

called ‘Parliament’; it is the pivot on which the political system

of the country revolves. Democracy implies the right of the

people to self determination and faith in the rationality and

ingenuity of the human mind. In a democracy the people are

their own masters.1 In a Parliamentary system of Government,

the executive is directly responsible to the elected

representatives of the people.2 There are three organs of the

Government in India: (i) Legislature, (ii) Executive and (iii)

Judiciary. The Legislature consists of two Houses, namely the

Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha. It is responsible for framing

the law of the land and formulating the policies in regard to the

manner in which the country is to be governed.3 The second

1 Subhash C. Kashyap, Our Parliament: An Introduction to the Parliament of India,National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2001, pp.22-23.2 R.B. Jain, The Indian Parliament: Innovations, Reforms and Development, SouthAsia Books, India, 1976, p.17.3 M.P. Jain, Indian Constitutional Law, 3rd ed., N.M. Tripathi, Bombay, 1978, p.11.

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organ namely, the Executive, consist of the President as the

Constitutional head and the Prime Minister with his Council of

Ministers is responsible to the Parliament for ensuring that the

administration of the country is carried on in accordance with

the policies laid down by the Parliament.4 The third organ

Judiciary consists of the Supreme Court of India, which is the

highest court in the land with original, appellate and advisory

jurisdiction and is the final interpreter of the Constitution. In

order that justice may be meted out to the people without any

fear and favour, judiciary is playing an important role

independent of the other two organs.5 The Parliamentary

system has often been described as ‘Government by

Committees’.6 The enormous range and complexity of legislation

and administrative functions of a modern state make it almost

impossible for the Legislature to adequately scrutinise

legislative proposals and oversee the executive action in the

various fields of administration. The task devolved upon the

Legislatures in modern times is too diverse and multi

dimensional to be accomplished by it within the limited time

available to it.7 During the years in which the Indian Parliament

has functioned as a sovereign body, there has been remarkable

4 J.N. Pandey, Constitutional Law of India, 3rd ed., Central Law Agency, Allahabad,1998, p.346.5 P.M. Bakshi, The Constitution of India, Universal Law Publishing Co., Delhi, 2000,pp.127-131.6 Dipak B.R. Chaudhuri, Aspects of Parliament and Government in India, RachnaPrakashan, New Delhi, 1972, p.60.7 B. Goswami, The Indian Parliamentary Scene, Pointer Publishers, Jaipur, 1994,p.77.

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development in Parliamentary practices and procedure. A

noteworthy part of these developments has been in the

direction of Parliamentary Committees. It is true that a

legislature may be known by the Committees it keeps. It is

reasonable to expect that financial committees in particular

have a special importance. The House of the People is not as

large as the House of Commons (and, of course, the State

Assemblies are much smaller), but it is still too big and two

inexpert a body to be able, as a whole House, to exert any

effective financial control over the Government.8 The Parliament

has various devices for exercising proper control over the

executive wing, one of the most important being the financial

control. The Executive cannot normally incurs expenditure

without obtaining the sanction of the Parliament.9 Every year

before the new financial year commences, the Parliament has to

vote the budget which authorizes the Government to incur

expenditure. As the time interval between the presentation of

the budget and passing the same is small, it is obvious that the

Parliament cannot study the budget thoroughly before

sanctioning the same. During budget discussion, it can only

indicate and formulate certain broad policies in accordance

with which the administration is to be carried on.10 Even

8 W.H. Morris-Jones, Parliament in India, Longmans, Green and Co., London,1957, p.279.9 Rumki Basu, Public Administration: Concepts and Theories, Sterling Publishers,New Delhi, 1994, p.326.10 H.N. Trivedi, The Estimates Committee at Work, First Parliament 1952-1957: ASouvenir, Lok Sabha Secretariat, New Delhi, p.74.

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otherwise, the legislative business before the Parliament

throughout the year is so heavy that it cannot devote sufficient

time to a detailed scrutiny of the budget. In order, therefore to

enable the Parliament to make proper scrutiny of the

expenditure that is incurred by the Government, the system of

Parliamentary Committee has been evolved.11 The workload in

both the Houses of Parliament has so much increased that it

cannot cope with that under any circumstances. The

Committees of British Parliament have been termed as Mini

Parliament and the Committees of American Congress are

known as Parliament’s workshop. The Committees of a House

are as important as the House itself. Thus Woodrow Wilson

called his government as “Government by the Committees”.12

Parliamentary committees figure in most countries of the world

increasingly serving as the main organising centre of both

legislation and Parliamentary oversight of government.13 The

growth of centrality of the Committees has occurred not only in

some Parliaments, but appears to be a global phenomenon.14

Different types of committees have been set up in the Lok

Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

11 A.T. Philip and K.H. Sivaji Rao, Indian Government and Politics, SterlingPublishers, Jullundur, 1981, p.128.12 S.A. Palekar, “Committee System in American Congress”, U.C. Agarwal (ed.),Indian Journal of Public Administration, The Indian Institute of PublicAdministration, No. 4, Vol. XLIX, October-December 2003, p.71.13 Nizam Ahmed, “Parliamentary Committees and Government Accountability-Roleof Departmentally Related Committees”, The Indian Journal of PublicAdministration, The Indian Institute of Public Administration, No. 1, Vol. XLVI,January-March 2000, p.50.14 L. Longley and A. Agh (eds.), The Changing Role of Parliamentary Committees,Appleton Research Committee on Legislative Specialists, 1997, p.3.

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The committee system in Indian Parliament has come to

stay as an integral part for smooth transactions of the business

of the House.15 It is accepted that without such system, it will

almost be impossible for any legislative body to finish the

volume of work which it is required to handle.16 The enormous

volume of work which comes before a legislature and a limited

time at its disposal for its consideration make it impossible that

every matter should be considered at length on the floor of the

House.17 The Parliament discusses policies but unless there are

committees which can discuss in detail and where those who

run the administration have to give evidence, where matters

can be thoroughly examined. Parliament’s control tends to be

feeble.

Meaning of the Committee

The word ‘Committee’ finds its origin from French word

‘Commiax’ which means ‘Trust’. Hence in the usage of

Parliament or other Legislative Assemblies the word has come

to signify one or more members of legislative body into whose

hands a matter under discussion is placed for investigation and

report.18

A committee is not an easy thing to define. The basic

concept is a group of people sitting round a table discussing

something. It is:

15 Op. cit., n 6, p.60.16 Hans Raj, Indian Political System, Surjeet Publications, New Delhi, 2004, p.310.17 B.B. Jena, Parliamentary Committees in India, Scientific Book Agency, Calcutta,1966, p.1.16 Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1957, p.814.

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“A body of people meeting round a table, to take decisions

for joint action on behalf of some other (generally larger) body of

which is the Committee”.19

It is appointed or elected to consider or investigate to take

action in regard to certain matters or subjects, or to do all of

these things. The Committees differ enormously in their size,

composition, frequency of meetings, in the manner of their

setting up, in their purpose and objectives and in their rules of

procedure.

Definitions of Committee

According to H.M. Robert: “A Committee is a body of one

or more persons appointed or elected by an Assembly or Society

to consider or investigate or take action in regard to certain

matters or subjects or to do all these things”.20

According to Oxford English Dictionary: “A body of (two or

more persons appointed or elected by a society, corporation,

public meeting, etc.) for some special business or function”.21

K.C. Wheare states, “A notion of committee carries with it

the idea of a body being in some manner or degree responsible

or subordinate or answerable in the last resort to the body or

the person who sets it up or committed a power or duty to it.”22

19 Edger and Anstey, Committees: How They Work and How to Work Them, GeorgeAllen and Unwin, London, 1962, p.13.20 Promila Suri, Growth of Committee System in the Central Legislature in India(1920-47), New Delhi, p.36.21 J.A. Simpson and E.S.C. Weiner, The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Ed., Vol. III,Cham-Creeky, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1991, p.561.22 K.C. Wheare, Government by Committees, Oxford University Press, London,1955, p.6.

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According to the Dictionary of Social Science, “The term

committee denotes a body of persons charged with some

specific function or functions.”23

According to Webster New World Dictionary, “A committee

is a body appointed or elected for some special business,

usually from some larger body.”24

According to The Concise Oxford Dictionary, “A body of

person’s appointed for special function by a larger body.”25

According to R. Pattanayak, “The group of members of

some deliberative or decision-making body. They are charged

with carrying out investigatory work on some issues or dealing

with matters of detail under broad lines agreed by the whole

body.”26

It can be said that a Committee is a device for study in

detail. A Committee is a group of people, appointed by some

other larger body to meet and discuss the matters within some

specified field of reference with a view to make group decisions

or recommendations to the parent body. Committees provide a

valuable forum for gathering consensus and for passing

legislative proposals through a sieve of scrutiny. According to

Thomas Read, “Committees are the eyes, ears and hands of

23 Julicis Gould and William L. Kals (eds.), A Dictionary of Social Sciences, TheUnited Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, 1965, p.106.24 Webster’s Encyclopaedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language,Portland House, New York, 1989, p.296.25 J.B. Spykes, The Concise Oxford Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Delhi,1976, p.203.26 R. Pattanayak Anmol’s Dictionary of Public Administration, Anmol Publications,New Delhi, p.73.

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Legislature and sometimes these become the brain of the house

also.”27

The Parliament control over the national finance acts as a

key instrument in enforcing accountability of the executive to

the legislature – a basic ingredient of democratic polity.28

Effective financial control involves scrutiny into the details of

estimates and accounts, but the house itself is not a suitable

body for going into minute details.29 Effective parliament

control over the governmental expenditure requires that, first

the parliament should satisfy itself that the appropriation have

been utilized economically for the approved purposes within the

framework of the grants; and secondly, it should undertake a

detailed examination of the annual budget estimates of the

government to suggest possible economies in the

implementation of the plans and programmes embodied

therein.30

Classifications of Committees

Articles 105 and 194 which deal with the privileges of

members of Union Legislature and of the State Legislature

respectively, indirectly recognise the institutions of

27 Herman Finer, Theory and Practice of Modern Government, Surjeet Publications,Delhi, 1977, p.497.28 B.P. Mathur, Governance Reform for Vision India, Macmillan India, Delhi, 2005,p.236.29 A.R. Mukerjea, Parliamentary Procedure in India, 3rd ed., Oxford University Press,Calcutta, 1983, p.328.30 R.K. Arora, Public Administration in India: Continuity and Change, RajatPublications, New Delhi, 2006, p.258.

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Parliamentary Committees.31 The Committees are, however,

constituted under Article 118 and 208 of the Constitution,

which empowers each House of Parliament or a House of State

Legislature, respectively to make rules for regulating its

procedure and conduct of business, subject to the provisions of

the Constitution.32

Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds;33 adhoc or

temporary committees, and standing or regular committees.

The adhoc or temporary committees are those committees

which are appointed for a specific purpose and they wind up

themselves as soon as their work is over. Select Committees on

Bills fall in this category.34 In this group there are also

committees appointed by the House to enquire into a given

occurrence, incident or matter. Standing or Regular

Committees functions under the Rules of Procedure and

conduct of business for performing specific functions and

reconstitute generally every year either by election or by the

House or nomination by the Speaker. They are relatively

permanent in their tenure. They deal with specific business.35

These include practically all Committees of the House other

than Select Committees on Bills, notable among them are the

31 Verinder Grover, Legislative Council in State Legislatures, Deep and DeepPublications, New Delhi, 1990, p.164.32 R.N. Aggarwala, Financial Committees of Indian Parliament, S. Chand andCompany, New Delhi, 1966, p.7.33 Subhash C. Kashyap, Parliaments of the Commonwealth, Lok Sabha Secretariat,1st ed., New Delhi, 1986, p.77.34 B.L. Fadia, Indian Government and Politics, Sahitya Bhawan Publications, Agra,2007, p.328.35 R.C. Swarankar, Political Elite: A Sociological Study of Legislators in Rajasthan,Rawat Publication, Jaipur, 1988, pp.193-194.

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Financial Committees (i.e., the Public Accounts Committees,

the Committee on Estimates and the Committee on Public

Undertakings), the Committee on Subordinate Legislation,

Petitions Committee, the Committee on Government

Assurances, the Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes and

Scheduled Tribes, the Committee on Papers laid on the Table

etc. are fallen under Scrutiny Committees. Standing Committee

constituted to suggest arrangement of the work of the House

and the amenities and facilities for the members and to assist

the House in its working. Rules Committee, Business Advisory

Committee, Committee on Absence of the Members from the

Sittings of the House, Committee on Private Members Bill and

Resolutions are categorised as Advise Committees. The House

Committee, Library Committee, Joint Committee on the

Salaries and Allowances of the Members of Parliament, and

General Purpose Committee fall in the Service Committee.36 In

the Lok Sabha, the General Purpose Committee, House

Committee and Library Committee are categorised as

‘Committees not mentioned in the Rules of Procedure’ and there

are separate Rules for them.37 Similarly, there is a separate

provision for Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of

Members of Parliament.38 Petitions Committee and Committee

on privileges categorised as Enquiry Committee.

36 Op. cit., n 7, p.79.37 Appendix II to the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha.38 Appendix III to the Rules of Procedure of Lok Sabha.

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The system of functioning through Parliamentary

Committee is useful particularly in dealing with matters of a

special and technical nature in a better way rather than by the

House itself. It is thus seen that much of the business of

Parliament is nowadays done through committees. This doesn’t

mean that Parliament has abandoned its duties and entrusted

its responsibilities to the others.39

It entrusts the work of detailed examination to committees

and reserves to itself the ultimate action to be taken. The main

reason for the origin of committee is that it can discuss every

aspect of the subject-matter minutely and with accuracy. To

make available the required expert opinion and through

knowledge of the subject-matter, more elaborate and detailed

discussion as compared with that in the House is possible.

Committee work is the training school in which members

prepare for executive duties in the larger organization.

Committees provide the best opportunity for testing and

proving ability to work and to lead.40

Significance of the Study

The significance of Committee in a parliamentary

Democracy can not be over emphasized. The Financial

Committees play a very important role as the watch dog of the

Assembly. The Financial Committees bring to light

39 Jeevan Nair and U.C. Jain, Indian Parliament Privileges, Powers and Functions,Pointer Publishers, Jaipur, 2000, p.29.40 Alice F. Sturgis, Parliamentary Procedure, McGraw Hill Book Company Inc.,London, 1950, p.116.

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inefficiencies, waste and indiscretion in the implementation of

policies and programmes approved by the Assembly. The

Committees have become an integral part of Parliament

because of its unique importance. Today, no legislature can

imagine to function without the aid of Committees. The purpose

of the Committee is to bring efficiency in work when the

Parliament is in session, the Committees are busy in

considering the bills in their rooms. It helps in passing the laws

early and the other benefit of the Committee is to save the time

of the House and thus the House devotes its time on other

important tasks. There is a possibility of thorough discussion

on any subject in its Committees because they have ample time

at their disposal and the number of members is quite less, so

every subject can be given proper consideration in the

Committees. Discussion in the Committees are above party

politics and the good views of the opposition parties are readily

accepted. The Committees collect knowledge from various

sources and put it before the Parliament which increases the

knowledge of the other members of the Parliament. It also

affords a very useful opportunity to give varied experience and

ability to members which may otherwise run waste in the

House. It provides increased efficiency to administration

coupled with economy of time. The study of Committee system

is also an important part of the study of the functioning of

Parliamentary system. The Committees are very useful and

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important part of governmental process. They are necessary

means of smooth and efficient working of legislative bodies.

Scope of the Study

No doubt a lot of work has already been done on

Legislative Committees and Committee on Welfare of Scheduled

Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes, but no work

has been done on Estimates Committee. The present study A

Study of Parliamentary Committee System in India with special

reference to Estimates Committee in Punjab is an endeavour to

analyse the working and performance of Estimates Committee

in Punjab from 1992-2007.

Review of Literature

D.N. Gadhok in his book, ‘Parliamentary Control over

Government Expenditure’41 has discussed the two financial

committees i.e. Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates

Committee of Parliament. He holds that both the Committees

have played a vital role in the subject of financial propriety and

have also created a consciousness in them for economical and

prudent spending. He suggests that the Estimates Committee

should appoint a sub-committee to examine the Supplementary

Estimates before they are submitted to the House. He further

suggests that if the value of the Committees labour is not to be

lost, the Committee will have to devise a suitable machinery to

watch the implementation of the recommendations on which

41 D.N. Gadhok, Parliamentary Control over Government Expenditure, SterlingPublishers, New Delhi, 1976.

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the Government has promised to initiate actions. He suggests

that the report of these committees should be discussed on the

floor of the House.

B.B. Jena in his book, ‘Parliamentary Committees in

India’42 discusses the concept of various Committees of Indian

Parliament. He has also given suggestions for making the

Estimates Committee more powerful and efficient, so that it

could serve as a useful machinery to control the public purse.

The author discusses the importance of Committee system in

recent times. As the Houses consist of a large number of

members and the problems have increased in number and

complexity, the delegation of certain of their powers to the

Committees has become a normal practice. The author has also

trued to find out the basic differences of the approach of those

committees in India and United Kingdom.

R.N. Aggarwala in his book, ‘Financial Committees of the

Indian Parliament (A Study in Parliamentary Control over

Public Expenditure)’43 describes the financial committees of the

Indian Parliament with a special emphasis on their working for

14 years, i.e., from 1950-51 to 1963-64. The Financial

Committees are the instruments of Parliamentary control over

public expenditure in India. The work of these Committees has

acquired a special significance in the present day conditions of

42 B.B. Jena, Parliamentary Committees in India, Scientific Book Agency, Calcutta,1966.43 R.N. Aggarwala, Financial Committees of the Indian Parliament (A Study inParliamentary Control over Public Expenditure), S. Chand and Co., Delhi, 1966.

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India. The problem is to study, in what manner, and how far,

the financial Committees of the Indian Parliament have

succeeded in exercising the necessary vigilance and supervision

over public funds, as instruments of Parliamentary control. The

author also suggested that the Estimates Committee should

submit the report to the House before the estimates are actually

voted upon by the Parliament. The author is against the

discussion of the reports of the Committees on the floor of the

House. He also finds that the investigation of the Committees

act as deterrent on the officers engaged in spending

Government money.

Mohan Prasad Shrivastava and Kanchan Prasad

Shrivastava in the their book, ‘Parliament and Financial

Committees’44 have examined that Parliamentary Committees

play an important and useful role in the working of Parliament

all over the world. The book is essentially an offbeat effort at

critically analysing the Parliamentary accountability of public

enterprises through Parliamentary Committees in a global

perspective. He also discusses the evolution of Parliamentary

Committee, i.e., Estimates Committee, Public Accounts

Committee and Committee on Public Undertakings.

Udai Narain in his book, Parliamentary Control of Public

Administration in India’45 describes some aspects of

44 Mohan Prasad Shrivastava and Kanchan Prasad Shrivastava, Parliament andFinancial Committees, Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 1999.45 Udai Narain, Parliamentary Control of Public Administration in India, ChughPublications, Allahabad, 1981.

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Parliamentary control of public administration. The aspects are

policies, activities, organisation, finance and operation of the

Union administration. These have been undertaken for

examining the effectiveness of Parliamentary procedure and

thereby for assessing the role of Parliament as the means of

democratic deficiencies.

S.L. Shakdher and M.N. Kaul wrote a book on ‘Practice

and Procedure of Parliament in India’46 deal with the

Parliamentary Committees in India. It discusses the functions

and working procedure of the Estimates Committee. It

describes that Parliamentary democracy has no one patent,

static, universal form. Parliament like the democracies differs

from country to country. Parliamentary procedure is a living

organism which grows and develops to meet new situations or

suit new conditions.

Verinder Grover (ed.) in his book, ‘Government Structure,

Political Process and Administration in India’47 discusses the

governmental structure at the centre as well as the states. The

author also discusses about the Parliamentary control over

governmental policies and how executive is accountable

towards Parliament. He emphasizes that there are two

objectives of financial control: 1) Regularity and 2) Economy.

Regularity means spending the money for the approved

46 S.L. Shakdher and M.N. Kaul, Practice and Procedure of Parliament in India,Metropolitan Book Co., New Delhi, 1968.47 Verinder Grover, Government Structure, Political Process and Administration inIndia, Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1994.

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purposes and with the sanction of the duly constituted

authority. Economy means getting full value for money spent.

The aspect of control is looked after by the executive wing of the

Government and more particularly by the Finance Ministry.

N.N. Mallya in his article, ‘Parliament Surveillance of

Administration: The Role of Committees, Particularly Financial

Committees’48 elaborates that, under our Constitution, the

Parliament, representing the sovereignty of the people, is

supreme and that the cabinet is a mere Committee of the House

or carrying its dictates and behests.

‘Parliamentary Practices in India’49 has been written by

S.L. Shakdher in which he describes that our Parliamentary

procedure is the proto-type of the procedure obtaining in the

British House of Commons. Though there is similarity between

the two systems in matters of broad principles, there is wide

difference in detail and actual working. In this book, the author

makes a comparative study of Parliamentary procedure in U.K.

and India.

In his work ‘Indian Administration’50 N. Jayapalan briefly

deals with the Parliamentary Committees in India. He

elaborates the composition, function and working of the

48 N.N. Mallya, “Parliament Surveillance of Administration: The Role of Committees,Particularly Financial Committees”, Journal of Constitutional and ParliamentaryStudies, Vol. 1, No. 3, July-September 1962.49 S.L. Shakdher, Parliamentary Practices in India, Research Publication SocialSciences, Delhi, 1977.50 N. Jayapalan, Indian Administration, Atlantic Publishers, Vol. 2, New Delhi,2001.

18

Estimates Committee which is quite relevant for the present

work.

‘Financial Committees at State Level’51 has been written

by Anil Minhas, Amrik Singh, Gurbax Ram Chumber and

Sanjeev Chanana. This book deals with the comprehensive

study of Financial Committees at state level. The book presents

the composition, functions, working procedure and

recommendations of different Committees. The significance of

Committee system in a Parliamentary democracy cannot be

over-emphasised. The system of Financial Committees are one

of the important pillars of financial administration. Therefore,

there is every need that these Committees should function

efficiently.

Verinder Grover in his book, ‘The Constitution of India:

Political and Constitution of India - Vol. II’52 deals with the need

and importance of committee system in India. He has given the

reason which led to the origin and growth of Parliamentary

Committees which is quite useful in second chapter.

The book ‘Select Constitutions’53 written by Anup Chand

Kapur attempts to explain the working of the governmental

system as obtainable in England, United States of America,

Switzerland, USSR and India. Efforts have also been made to

51 Anil Minhas, Amrik Singh, Gurbax Ram Chumber and Sanjeev Chanana,Financial Committees at State Level, Asia Publishing House, Chandigarh, 1990.52 Verinder Grover, The Constitution of India: Political System and Constitution ofIndia-2, Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1999.53 Anup Chand Kapur, Select Constitutions, S. Chand and Company, New Delhi,1999.

19

make the comparative study of forms, structure and

organisation of modern constitutional government.

M.N. Kaul’s book, ‘Parliamentary Institutions and

Procedures’54 covers almost every procedural and organisational

aspects of legislatures. There have been a tremendous advance

in Parliamentary procedure since independence. In the

Parliament of independent India, two tasks came to be of

primary importance, the building up of an efficient secretariat

and the evolving of sound procedures. The author also

highlights the evolution of Parliament and Parliamentary

practices.

Subhash C. Kashyap in his pioneer work ‘Our

Parliament’55 deals with the utility, the structure, functions and

importance of Parliamentary Committees in India. It also

provides the basic information about the functioning and

working of Parliament.

Ramesh K. Arora and Rajni Goyal in their book, ‘Indian

Public Administration Institutions and Issues’56 highlights the

key issue areas of civil service recruitment, training,

accountability and the wider area of administrative reforms.

The foregoing analysis provides a survey of the major

instruments of Parliamentary control over public expenditure. It

is evident that the system involving the process of such control

54 M.N. Kaul, Parliamentary Institutions and Procedures, National PublishingHouse, New Delhi, 1978.55 Subhash C. Kashyap, Our Parliament, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 1989.56 Ramesh K. Arora and Rajni Goyal, Indian Public Administration, Institution andIssues, New Age International Publishers, New Delhi, 2006.

20

is characterised by potential, but not complete effectiveness.

The author describes that whenever there are differences

between the Public Accounts Committee, Committee on Public

Undertaking and the Estimates Committee on the one hand

and the Government ministries and departments on the other,

such differences should be discussed in the whole House.

P.K. Wattal’s book, ‘Parliamentary Financial Control in

India’57 deals with the evolution, composition, functions,

powers, procedures, recommendations of the Estimates

Committee and its relevance in India which is quite useful for

the present work. The Parliamentary bodies concerned with the

financial control have improved their status during the last 12

years. The author describes the various agencies of financial

control like Legislature, the Executive Government, the Finance

Ministry and the Audit department. The Finance Ministry made

large delegations of authority to the administrative ministers

and also agreed that once a scheme was included in the budget,

no further financial sanction would be necessary.

S. Seshadari’s book ‘Parliamentary Control over

Finance’,58 is a depth study of the evolution, growth and

working of Estimates Committee in Indian Parliament. The

striking character of this Committee according to Seshadri is its

57 P.K. Wattal, Parliamentary Financial Control in India, Minerva Book Shop,Bombay, 1962.58 S. Seshadri, Parliamentary Control over Finance, Allied Publishers, New Delhi,1975.

21

non-party approach and its ability to withstand political

pressure.

The book ‘Parliament and Administration in India’59 by

L.M. Singhvi deals with the Parliamentary control over the

Executive. The adequacy of existing procedures and the impact

of Estimates Committee on administration has been described.

The functional framework of modern Parliament constantly

brings them into contact with executive and administrative

departments. As an electoral chamber, a legislature supervises

administration, evaluates it, criticizes it, reacts to it, supports it

and bring it into account. It is important in an effective

Parliamentary system to preserve continuous interchange and

interaction between Parliament and administration and to

synthesize accountability and evolution with autonomy and

efficiency. The present volume seeks to examine the problems of

interrelationship between Parliament and administration in

detail.

In another work by Subhash C. Kashyap on

‘Parliamentary Committees’60 briefly deals with the Committee

structure – the types of Parliamentary Committees, their

composition and functions obtaining in some countries viz.,

India, Australia, U.K., U.S.A., Canada and France. The author

describes that the Parliamentary Committees play an important

59 L.M. Singhvi, Parliament and Administration in India, Metropolitan Book Co.,Delhi, 1992.60 Subhash C. Kashyap, Parliamentary Committees, Lok Sabha Secretariat, NewDelhi, 1988.

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role in the working of legislatures all over the world. Moreover

with the increasing business and expanding functions of

modern Parliaments, increasing use of Committees is an

evident in almost all Parliaments of the world.

S.R. Maheshwari in his book, ‘Indian Administration on

Historical Accounts’61 deals with the reports of Estimates

Committee and he has suggested the alternative policies in

order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration.

The Estimates Committee of Parliament has steadily emerged

as a insignificant agent of administrative reforms in the

machinery of governance of India.

Subhash C. Kashyap wrote a book on ‘Parliament

Procedure’62 and the 2nd volume of this book deals with the

three Financial Committees, namely Estimates Committee, the

Public Accounts Committee and the Public Undertakings

Committee in Indian Parliament which is quite relevant in the

2nd chapter of the present work.

M.P. Shrivastava in his book, ‘Parliamentary

Accountability and Supervision over Public Enterprises’63

discussed the various issues of Parliamentary accountability of

public enterprises by giving some examples of developed and

developing nations like U.K., U.S.A., Tanzania, Nigeria for

61 S.R. Maheshwari, Indian Administration on Historical Accounts, JawaharPublishers, New Delhi, 1994.62 Subhash C. Kashyap, Parliament Procedure, Universal Law Publishing Co.,Delhi, 2000.63 M.P. Shrivastava, Parliamentary Accountability and Supervision over PublicEnterprises, Deep and Deep Publications, New Delhi, 1992.

23

critical, effective and comparative analysis of the Parliamentary

accountability in India. He also analyses the main

Parliamentary weapons of enforcing accountability of public

enterprises such as Parliamentary Debates and Parliamentary

Committees i.e., Public Accounts Committee, Estimates

Committee and Public Undertakings Committee.

G.C. Malhotra in his book, ‘Fifty Years of Indian

Parliament’64 describes that Parliamentary democracy in India

has faced various challenges successfully. Our Parliament is

playing a crucial role in promoting the lofty ideals of our

Constitution, namely participative democracy, social and

religious pluralism, social justice and graving opportunities for

the citizens to take part of the nations progress in different

fields – social, economic and technological etc.

C.P. Bhambhari in his book on ‘Parliamentary Control

over Finance in India’65 deals with the financial administration

of the Indian Government. He has also evaluated the working

and legitimacy of various Committees. He has compared the

financial administration of India with that of Great Britain.

N.R. Inamdar in ‘The Estimates Committee and

Administrative Accountability’66 attempts to examine the

working of Estimates Committee. The author describes that the

64 G.C. Malhotra, Fifty Years of Indian Parliament, Lok Sabha Secretariat, NewDelhi, 2002.65 C.P. Bhambhri, Parliamentary Control over Finance in India, Education and NewPublishers, New Delhi, 1976.66 N.R. Inamdar, “The Estimates Committee and Administration Accountability”,The Indian Journal of Public Administration, Vol. XXIX, No. 3, July-September1983.

24

accountability is the responsibility of the executive to give

answer to the representative body of the people. Certain

suggestions have been offered to streamline and activate the

working of the Estimates Committee. The power of

administrative accountability is vested in the Parliament and

the State Legislature. It would be actively operationalised only

with the active participation in its exercise by their members.

K.N. Baisya in his book, ‘Financial Administration in India

(Theory and Practice)’67 discusses a sound financial

administration touching every organ irrespective of private or

public which would make the state structure stronger, the

foundation of economy sounder and people happier. It also

provides us the knowledge about the financial accountability of

executive to legislature. Development of economy aims at

achievement through long perspective successive planning. The

budget being the segment of a long perspective plan bears the

basic and cardinal principle relating to prime objectives.

Basil Chubb in his book on ‘The Control of Public

Expenditure’68 deals with the two Financial Committees. The

Estimates Committee and the Public Accounts Committee of

the House of Commons of England. It is a study of some

aspects of parliamentary and administrative procedure in the

19th and 20th centuries. It was not until the middle of 19th

67 K.N. Baisya, Financial Administration in India (Theory and Practice), HimalayaPublishing House, Bombay, 1986.68 Basil Chubb, The Control of Public Expenditure, Oxford University Press, London,1957.

25

century that a complete system and adequate machinery of

control were evolved.

S.L. Goel in his book, ‘Public Financial Administration’69

describes that there is a great financial crisis at all levels of

Government i.e. union to local levels. Financial development

and socio-economic development are interlinked. Finance

accelerates the process of economic growth and that is why the

ministry of finance must attend to finances of the country in a

prudent manner. Financial management must be given top

priority as the entire functioning of the machinery of

government depends on finances. In this book, concrete

suggestions have been given to make use of the finances

efficiently to ensure financial stability and development as well

as to face the forces of globalisation and privatization etc.

W.H. Morris-Jones in his work, ‘Parliament in India’70

deals with the financial Committees of India. Since Indian

political institutions owe much to British experience, it has

been difficult wholly to avoid atleast implicit comparisons with

British practice. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made, for it

is certainly more important to measure political institutions

and behaviour against national character and national needs.

69 S.L. Goel, Pubic Financial Administration, Deep and Deep Publications, NewDelhi, 2002.70 W.H. Morris-Jones, Parliament in India, Longmans Green and Co., London,1957.

26

A. Prem Chand’s book, ‘Control of Public Expenditure in

India’,71 deals with two Financial Committees i.e., the Estimates

Committee and the Public Accounts Committee. These

committees supplement the control at the initial stage where

funds are voted by the Parliament. Each committee in its own

way tries to ensure that the objectives of Parliamentary control

is fulfilled. The author points out that there are certain

hindrances in this regard which effect their effective control on

Public finance.

Amiya K. Chaudhari wrote a book on ‘Legislative Control

over Public Administration’72 and in this book, the author

describes the concept of control of the executive by the

legislature. It investigate in detail, the three Financial

Committees i.e. Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates

Committee and the Public Undertakings Committee. Besides

this, the author has also given many suggestions to improve the

working of committees.

Jyoti Mitra in her book, ‘Women and Society; Equality and

Empowerment’73 laid stress on social, economic and political

equality among men and women and the need for women

empowerment. She emphasized the need to overcome the

obstacles in her way towards women empowerment. Although

71 A. Prem Chand, Control of Public Expenditure in India, Allied Publishers, NewYork, 1963.72 Amiya K. Chaudhari, Legislative Control over Public Administration, MinervaAssociation, Calcutta, 1993.73 Jyoti Mitra, Women and Society: Equality and Empowerment, KanishkaPublishers, New Delhi, 1997.

27

women constitute half of the population but still considered

inferior to men. She criticized the technological revolution,

which brought comforts for human life but failed to broaden the

vision of male counterparts.

K.C. Vidya’s work, ‘Political Empowerment of Women at

the Grassroots’74 described the role of women in an

institution/organization. She has described the emerging

pattern of women leadership, their participation in the decision

making process, their influence in and impact on the overall

development of women especially in the rural areas.

Sweta Mishra in her article, ‘Women and 73rd

Constitutional Amendment Act: A Critical Appraisal’75 explains

the position of women in present arena. Women played a

dummy role in comparison to their male counterpart in the

society. She suggests that awareness, political education,

campaigns etc. play an important role in creating awareness

among women. This can be possible only by giving them more

opportunities of participation in political process.

Another important work on ‘People, Parliament and

Administration’ has been conducted by Balram Jakhar.76 It

provides a detailed account of the functioning and role of the

Estimates Committee in the Indian Parliament. This book is

74 K.C. Vidya, Political Empowerment of Women at the Grassroots, KanishkaPublishers, New Delhi, 1977.75 Sweta Mishra, “Women and 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act: A CriticalAppraisal”, Social Action, Vol. 47, No. 2, January-March 1997.76 Balram Jakhar, People, Parliament and Administration, Metropolitan, New Delhi,1982.

28

more like a handbook for the Parliamentarians. The author of

the book had seen practical aspect and is of the view that the

Estimates Committee endeavour to undertake the task of

detailed scrutiny of government spending and performance is

quite appreciable.

Romesh Chandra Mishra’s book, ‘Role of Women in

Legislatures in India: A Study’,77 deals with the importance of

legislative studies which has increased in the recent decades. In

this book, the author has made an attempt to analyse the

socio-economic profile and role of women legislators in Orissa.

India after independence created a new political order in which

the Constitutional infrastructure guaranteed equal rights and

opportunities for political participation for all. In reality, women

have remained away from the politics. The steps towards

empowerment of women are still lacking boldness.

R.C. Swarankar has found in his book, ‘Political Elite: A

Sociological Study of Legislators in Rajasthan’,78 that political

elite plays an important role in the formulation of policies,

economic planning and socio-political reforms in Indian society.

Their heterogeneous socio-economic make up represents the

different sections of the society. The author analyses the socio-

cultural profile of Rajasthan politics which provide the base for

tracing the functioning of the legislative elite.

77 Romesh Chandra Mishra, Role of Women in Legislatures in India: A Study, Anmol Publications, New Delhi, 2000.78 R.C. Swarankar, Political Elite: A Sociological Study of Legislators in Rajasthan,Rawat Publications, Jaipur, 1998.

29

Hiren Mukherjee in his book ‘India and Parliament’79

describes the process of Parliamentary system in India. The

British Parliamentary system is generally thought of as the

world’s oldest example of legislature. The author also described

the history of the Financial Committees and especially of the

Estimates Committees as a valuable store of knowledge for a

researcher.

Ivor Jennings in his work on ‘Parliament’,80 attempts to

provide a good survey of the working of the British Parliament.

The Estimates Committee has been originated from the Great

Britain in the year 1912. The work is useful in evaluating the

historical background of the Estimates Committee. The author

has also discussed the various stages of the Estimates

Committee and the financial control of the Parliament.

Another work on ‘Glimpses of the Working of the

Parliament’81 by S.L. Shakdhar is a useful study on the

historical background, functions and role of Parliament. The

work basically related with the rules, procedure and conduct of

business in the Indian Parliament.

A.R. Mukherjea in his work ‘Parliamentary Procedures in

India’,82 described the rules and procedures relating to the

working of committee of the Indian Parliament. The study

79 Hiren Mukherjee, India and Parliament, People’s Publishing House, New Delhi,1962.80 Ivor Jennings, Parliament, The University Press, Cambridge, 1969.81 S.L. Shakdhar, Glimpses of the Working of Parliament, Metropolitan, New Delhi,1977.82 A.R. Mukherjea, Parliamentary Procedure in India, 3rd ed., Oxford UniversityPress, Calcutta, 1983.

30

basically focused on the emergence of the Estimates Committee

in Lok Sabha in 1950, which is quite relevant in the 2nd

Chapter of the present work. Chapter 12 in particular, on the

system of committees; the description of the work and

procedures of the individual committees has also been

discussed in greater detail.

R.B. Jain in his work on ‘Indian Parliament; Innovations,

Reforms and Development’83 deals with the functions and role

of various committees in Indian Parliament. He analyses the

action taken reports of the various Financial Committees of the

Indian Parliament which is quite informative in the present

work.

Another work on ‘Parliament and Public Expenditure in

India’84 by Laxmi Narain, is a useful study on the Committee on

Public Undertakings. In this book, the author describes the

composition, structure, historical background and its impact.

Accountability of the public sector enterprises to the public

through the Parliament is essential and the Committee on

Public Undertakings play a very key role in ensuring the

accountability. The committee has an important role to

highlight not only the role and importance of the public sector

but also in making constructive suggestions to ensure that the

public sector enterprises gets effective help in the problem faced

83 R.B. Jain, The Indian Parliament: Innovations Reforms and Development, SouthAsia Books, India, 1976.84 Laxmi Narain, Parliament and Public Expenditure in India, S. Chand andCompany, New Delhi, 1979.

31

by its management which are beyond from its control. One of

the major tasks performed by the committee is to identify the

factors responsible for the performance or lack of it and suggest

preventive measures to improve the situation. The Committee

on Public Undertakings is the best source of authoritative and

much detailed information about these enterprises.

‘Legislative Control over Government Expenditure’85 is

written by B.P. Singh is another important work in which the

author described the composition, functions and works of

procedure of Public Accounts Committee and Estimates

Committee of Bihar Vidhan Sabha. The spirit of Democracy

lives only so long as the representatives of the people, who sit

either in the Parliament or in a State Legislature, exercise direct

control over the finances of the Country or the State concerned

and consider not only how money received from the people is to

be spent but also how it has been spent. An attempt has been

made to study the legislature and its Financial Committees

(Public Accounts Committee and Estimates Committee) in

connection with the financial control over the government of

Bihar Vidhan Sabha.

Ashoka Chakravarty in his book ‘Legislative Politics in

India’86 attempts to analyze the various Committee Systems

which prevails in legislature countries like India, England,

85 B.P. Singh, Legislative Control Over Government Expenditure, B.R. PublishingCorporation, Delhi, 1986.86 Ashoka Chakravarty, Legislative Politics in India, Radha Publications, New Delhi,1991.

32

America, etc. It defines how the legislature came into existence

in India. The makers of the Constitution of free India faced an

uphill task. The popular will as well as the official opinion both

advocated the establishment of an All India Federation as the

most satisfactory solution of the Indian Political tangle. The

present work deals with the position and working of second

chamber in a number of leading countries of the world and

traces in detail the history of second chamber in India. He also

analysed the circumstances and factors that were responsible

for continuing with bi-cameralism at the union and in the

states under the Constitution of India.

Ramesh K Arora’s ‘Public Administration in India:

Tradition Trends and Transformations’87 throws light on the

social, culture, historical and political context in which the

Indian Administrative system functions. It also examines the

impact of Public Administrative Organizations on their

surrounding environmental structure. In this book, he

described the various issues and instruments of accountability.

The author describes the various agencies of financial control

like the legislature, the Executive Government, the Finance

Ministry and the Audit Department. Parliamentary Committee

in India for a long time had been criticizing the over-budgeting

and defective control of expenditure in their annual reports.

The Finance Ministry made large delegations of authority to the

87 Ramesh K. Arora, Public Administration in India: Tradition, Trends andTransformation, Paragon International Publishers, New Delhi, 2006.

33

Administrative Ministers and also agreed that once a scheme

was included in the budget no further financial sanction would

be necessary.

‘Government Budgeting: Principles and Practices’88 wrote

by N. Judarsanan provides a comprehensive coverage on the

various theoretical and practical aspects of Government

Budgeting. It deals with origin, functions and powers of

Parliamentary Committees. Budgeting is an important

component of financial administration, apart of the total

process of administration. Budgeting assumes greater

significance as the Union and state Government in India are

caught in serious financial situation. As such Budgeting is

employed by the Government as a special tool to direct and

control the affairs of the nation.

Anupama Singh in his important work ‘Bureaucracy at

the Grassroots Levels in India’89 has thoroughly discussed the

socio-economic profile of the officials and the beneficiaries, to

examine the structural deficiencies in the administrative set up

at the block level, in recruitment, promotion and to examine the

role of bureaucrats with regard to policies. The indicators like

age, education, economic status and family background are

used to know the difference of class, caste and economic status

of officials and beneficiaries.

88 N. Judarsanan, Government Budgeting: Principles and Practices, StreetPublications, Chennai, 2001.89 Anupama Singh, Bureaucracy at the Grassroots Level in India, KanishkaPublishers, Distributors, New Delhi, 2006.

34

‘Political Elites’90 written by S. Nagendra Ambedkar deals

with the members of 8th Legislative Assembly in Andhra

Pradesh. The legislatures in developing countries tend to be

composed of more educated, urban dwelling individuals drawn

from the upper-middle strata of society since they have the

verbal skills, the necessary material resource to get elected to

the representative institutions. The member of assembly play

an important role in any political system, and occupy a very

important position in the constitutional framework. It

highlights the socio-economic background of legislative elites of

the state. These variables like education, caste, age, religion,

profession, etc. are very necessary for getting the membership

in the assembly. It also evaluates the governmental

performance, their perception on various important issues for

solving problems.

A book entitled ‘Ecology of Elite Recruitment’91 written by

H.S. Deol presents an exhaustive and analytical study of the

various existing elite theories. It aims at exploring the role of

caste, class, religion, gender composition, profession and

various other allied factors in the recruitment and selection of

political elites. He suggests how the socio-economic background

of a person plays a vital role in determining a person’s political

opportunity. It provides an idea of the very important

90 S. Nagendra Ambedkar, Political Elite, Printwell, Jaipur, 1991.91 H.S. Deol, Ecology of Elite Recruitment, Rajmindra Publishers and Distributors,Jalandhar, 1987.

35

interactions between the antecedents of the elite and the

prevailing socio-political conditions of the state.

Objectives of the Study

The main objectives of the study are as following:

1. To study the evolution of Financial Parliamentary

Committees in India.

2. To know the socio-economic profile of the members of

Estimates Committees in Punjab.

3. To know the reason for less number of women members

participation in the activities of Estimates Committee.

4. To analyze the performance and working of Estimates

Committee from 1992 to 2007 in Punjab.

5. To examine and classify the recommendations

implemented by the government.

Hypotheses

Keeping in view the objectives of the study, the following

hypotheses have been framed:

1. The Committee lacks adequate power to maintain its

effective control over Public Finance.

2. The Recommendations of the committee yet are generally

accepted by the government, but are not acted upon.

3. The Committee lacks the expert assistance of the

comptroller and Auditor General as provided to the Public

Accounts Committee.

4. Short tenure of the members of the Estimates Committee

is a big hurdle in the proper functioning of the committee.

36

5. The Recommendations of the committee are, at best,

advisory and it is the government which ultimately

decides whether they have to be implemented or not.

Research Methodology

For the research work, both primary as well as secondary

sources have been used. In this study, historical as well as

analytical methods have been employed. Historical method has

been used to study the facts which led to the inclusion of

Financial Committees in India. analytical method has been

applied to evaluate the working of Estimates Committees.

Interview and questionnaire were the main method through

which the data has been collected. Interview schedule provide

the best mean of discussing the views, actions and reactions of

the interviewers regarding the issues to be investigated. Some

present, ex-members and people working with the Committee

were interviewed for the information. These interviews were very

helpful in understanding the working of the Committee. The

information is collected through fieldwork. Apart from this, a

number of difficulties were faced during interview period. A list

of 70 members was prepared and the information was collected

by mean of random sampling method.

Besides this, several other official documents such as

Punjab Vidhan Sabha Debates, the Rules of Procedure and

Conduct of Business in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Who’s Who

of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Internal Working Rules of the

Estimates Committee of Punjab, Reports and Resume of the

37

Estimates Committee and Annual Reviews of the Estimates

Committee has been used for an analysis of the functioning of

the Estimates Committee. The secondary sources comprise of

information obtained from books, journals, newspapers and

research articles, etc.

Chapterisation of the Study

The work has been divided into six chapters including

introduction and conclusion.

1. Introduction: The first chapter includes introduction of

the topic, significance of the study, scope of the study,

objectives hypotheses and research methodology. It also

presents a review of existing literature and chapterization

of the study.

2. Second Chapter deals with the evolution of Financial

Parliamentary Committees in India like Estimates

Committee, Public Accounts Committee and Committee

on Public Undertakings.

3. Third Chapter relates with the committee system in

Punjab. It includes the composition and functions of

Financial as well as Non-Financial Committees of Punjab.

4. Fourth Chapter associated with the socio-economic

profile of the members of Estimates Committee of Punjab

1992-2007. The data is related to the socio-economic

factors such as age, caste, profession, educational

qualification, religion, gender, etc.

38

5. Fifth Chapter is related with the composition, function

and it focuses on the working procedure of the Estimates

Committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha 1992-2007 on the

basis of information. An attempt has been made to know

the total meetings, meetings held at Chandigarh and held

outside Chandigarh. How many meetings were adjourned

for want of quorum?

6. Sixth Chapter deals with the recommendation of the

Estimates Committee in Punjab during 1992-2007. The

Committee analysed that how many recommendations

have been implemented by government or not.

6. Seventh Chapter which one is the last chapter of the

study traces the findings of the thesis. It contains some

suggestions which if adopted will go a long way in

improving the functioning of the Estimates Committee of

Punjab.