The Parliamentary committees are established to study and deal with various matters that cannot be directly handled by the legislature due to their volume. They also monitor the functioning of the executive branch.

The Parliamentary committees are of two kinds – standing or permanent committees and ad hoc committees. The former are elected or appointed periodically and they work on a continuous basis. The latter are created on an ad hoc basis as the need arises and they are dissolved after they complete the task assigned to them.

Standing committees

A standing committee is a committee consisting of Members of Parliament. It is a permanent and regular committee which is constituted from time to time according to the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business. The work done by the Indian Parliament is not only voluminous but also of a complex nature, hence a good deal of its work is carried out in these Parliamentary committees.

Standing committees are of the following kinds :

Financial standing committees (FSC) Department related standing committees (DRSC) Other standing committees (OSC)

Financial standing committees

There are three important standing committees dealing with financial affairs. These committees involve further sub-committees.

Public Accounts Committee – It examines various expenditure reports and accounts under the purview of the Parliament. Till 1921, a senior member of the ruling party used to be appointed by the Speaker as chairman of the committee. In 1921, it was established under the provision of the Government of India Act 1919 and has since been in existence. However, for the first time, a member from the Opposition in Lok Sabha, was appointed as the chairman of the committee by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. This practice continues till date. Estimates Committee – The committee on Estimates, constituted for the first time in 1950, is a committee consisting of 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha from amongst its Members. Public Undertakings Committee – It analyses the accounts, and workings of the state owned PSU firms. It also keeps a check on the disinvestment policies of the various PSUs.

+Finance Committees Details for the 18th Lok Sabha (2024 – 2025); Updated as of September 2024 S.No.CommitteeChairpersonCompositionTenureNominated / electedSub-committees1Public Accounts CommitteeK. C. Venugopal22 members (15 LS + 7 RS)1 YearElected from Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha MPsSub-Committee – I : Non Compliance in Timely submission of Action Taken Notes on the Non-selected Audit Paragraphs & Excess Expenditure Sub-Committee – II : Direct and Indirect Taxes Sub-Committee – III : Implementation of Recommendations of PAC Sub-Committee – IV : Railways2Estimates CommitteeSanjay Jaiswal30 members (LS)1 YearElected from Lok Sabha MPsSub-Committee – I : Drought situation in the country pertaining to the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Sub-Committee – II : Education with special reference to the recent development regarding autonomy in Education3Public Undertakings CommitteeBaijayant Panda22 members (15 LS + 7 RS)1 YearElected from Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha MPs*Currently None*

Department-related standing committees

During the year 1989 – 8th Lok Sabha the Rules Committee considered and approved a proposal that three subject committees, on (i) Agriculture; (ii) Environment & Forests; and (iii) Science & Technology. related to these committees were finally approved by the House and the committees were formally constituted with effect from 18 August 1989.

The Reports of Rules Committees of the 10th Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha adopted by the two Houses on 29 March 1993 paved the way for the setting up of the 17 departmentally related standing committees covering under their jurisdiction all the Ministries/Departments of the Union Government.

These DRSCs replaced the earlier three subject committees constituted in August, 1989. The 17 departmentally related standing committees were formally constituted with effect from April, 1993. After experiencing the working of the DRSC system for over a decade, the system was re-structured in July, 2004 wherein the number of DRSCs was increased from 17 to 24. Till 13th Lok Sabha, each of these standing committees used to consist of 45 members— 30 nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of Lok Sabha and 15 members nominated by the Chairperson, Rajya Sabha from amongst the members of Rajya Sabha. However, with re-structuring of DRSCs in July, 2004 each DRSC consists of 31 members—21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha.

There are 24 department-related standing committees (DRSCs). Each of these committees have 31 members – 21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. These members are to be nominated by the Chairperson of Rajya Sabha or the Speaker of Lok Sabha respectively. The term of office of these committees does not exceed one year. These committees are serviced either by Lok Sabha secretariat or the Rajya Sabha secretariat, depending on who has appointed the chairperson of that committee. +Department-related Standing Committees Details for the 18th Lok Sabha (2024 – 2025); Updated as of September 2024 S.No. CommitteeMinistriesChairpersonTenureChairperson nominated by 1 Committee on Agriculture,Food Processing and Animal Husbandary Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Food Processing Industries Animal Husbandry, Dairying and FisheriesCharanjit Singh Channi1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 2 Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers Chemicals and FertilizersKirti Azad1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 3 Committee on Coal, Mines and Steel Coal Mines SteelAnurag Singh Thakur1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 4 Committee on Commerce Commerce and IndustryDola Sen1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 5 Committee on Defence DefenceRadha Mohan Singh1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 6 Committee on Energy Power New and Renewable EnergyShrirang Barne1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 7 Committee on External Affairs External AffairsShashi Tharoor1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 8 Committee on Finance Finance Planning (NITI Aayog) Corporate Affairs Statistics and Programme ImplementationBhartruhari Mahtab1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 9 Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution Consumer Affairs, Food and Public DistributionKanimozhi1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 10 Committee on Health and Family Welfare Health and Family Welfare AYUSHRam Gopal Yadav1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 11 Committee on Home Affairs Home Affairs Development of North Eastern RegionRadha Mohan Das Agarwal1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 12 Committee on Education Education Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Women and Child Development Youth Affairs and SportsDigvijaya Singh1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 13 Committee on Industry Heavy Industries Micro, Small and Medium EnterprisesTiruchi Siva1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 14 Committee on Communication and Information Technology Communications Electronics and Information Technology Information and BroadcastingNishikant Dubey1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 15 Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development Labour and Employment Textiles Skill DevelopmentBasavaraj Bommai1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 16 Committee on Personnel, Public Governances, Law and Justice Law and Justice Personnel, Public Grievances and PensionsBrij Lal1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 17 Committee on Petroleum and Natural Gas Petroleum and Natural GasSunil Tatkare1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 18 Committee on Railways RailwaysC. M. Ramesh1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 19 Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Rural Development Panchayati RajSaptagiri Sankar Ulaka1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 20 Committee on Science & Technology and Environment & Forests Science and Technology Atomic Energy Space Earth Sciences Environment, Forests and Climate ChangeBhubaneswar Kalita1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 21 Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment Social Justice and Empowerment Tribal Affairs Minority AffairsP. C. Mohan1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 22 Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture Civil Aviation Culture Road Transport and Highways Shipping TourismSanjay Kumar Jha1 yearChairperson of Rajya Sabha 23 Committee on Housing and Urban AffairsMinistry of Housing and Urban AffairsMagunta Sreenivasulu Reddy1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha 24 Committee on Water Resources* Ministry of Jal ShaktiRajiv Pratap Rudy1 yearSpeaker of Lok Sabha

Other standing committees +Other Standing Committees Details for the 17th Lok Sabha (2019 – 2024); Updated as of January 2025 S.No. Committee ChairpersonCompositionTenureNominated / elected 1 Business Advisory Committee Om Birla15 membersNot fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted. Nominated 2 Committee of Privileges Sunil Kumar Singh15 membersNot fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted. Nominated 3 Committee on Absence of Members from the sittings of the House Ravneet Singh15 members1 YearNominated 4 Daggubati Purandeswari30 members

(20 LS+ 10 RS)1 YearNominated 5 Committee on Government Assurances Rajendra Agrawal15 members1 YearNominated 6 Committee on Papers Laid on the Table Girish Chandra15 members1 YearNominated 7 Committee on Petitions Harish Dwivedi15 members1 YearNominated 8 Committee on Private Members' Bills and Resolutions M. Thambidurai15 members1 YearNominated 9 Committee on Subordinate Legislation Vallabhaneni Balashowry15 members1 YearNominated 10 General Purposes Committee **Om BirlaVariesNot fixed.Ex-Officio 11 House Committee Mahesh Sharma12 members1 YearNominated 12 Joint Committee on Offices of Profit Etela Rajender15 members

(10 LS+ 5 RS)For the duration of one Lok SabhaElected 13 Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowance of MPsRita Bahuguna Joshi15 members

(10 LS+ 5 RS)1 YearNominated 14 Library Committee Nama Nageswara Rao9 members

(6 LS+ 3 RS)1 YearNominated 15 Rules Committee Om Birla15 membersNot fixed. May continue in office till reconstituted. Nominated 16 Committee on the Welfare of Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Faggan Singh Kulaste30 members

(20 LS+ 10 RS)1 YearElected ** In each House there is a GPC. All members are ex-officio members by virtue of being chairmen of respective standing committees and leaders of respective parties.

Ad hoc committees , the following ad hoc committees are in operation: +Ad hoc Committees Details for the 16th Lok Sabha (2014 – 2019); Updated as of August 2018 S.No. Committee ChairpersonTenureComposition1Committee on EthicsL. K. Advani1 year15 members

(15 LS ) 2 Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex A. P. Jithender Reddy1 Year15 members

(10 LS + 5 RS) 3 Committee on Installation of Portraits/Statues of National leaders and ParliamentariansSumitra MahajanFor the duration of one Lok Sabha12 members

(8 LS + 4 RS) 4 Committee on Members of Parliament Local Area Development SchemeM. Thambidurai1 Year24 members 5 Committee on Provision of Computers to Members of Lok Sabha P. KumarFor the duration of one Lok Sabha10 members 6 Joint Committee on Maintenance of Heritage Character and Development of Parliament House Complex Sumitra MahajanFor the duration of one Lok Sabha10 members

(7 LS + 3 RS) 7 Joint Committee on Security in Parliament House Complex Sumitra Mahajan1 Year10 members

(7 LS + 3 RS) 8 Railway Convention Committee Bhartruhari MahtabFor the duration of one Lok Sabha18 members (12 LS + 6 RS)9Committee on Violation of Protocol Norms and Contemptuous Behaviour of Government Officers with Members of Lok SabhaRayapati Sambasiva RaoFor the duration of one Lok Sabha15 members 10 Committee to Inquiry into the Improper Conduct of a Member Kirit Somaiya**For the year 2016 only**9 members

Notable ad hoc committees The Government of India has appointed a number of committees ad-hoc committees. Some of the notable ad-hoc committees are as follows :

Pre-independence