CDS (II) 2020 General Knowledge · Question 75 of 120

Correct — D, The Members are appointed or elected on a motion made and adopted or nominated by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. It is the only option that admits more than one route, and more than one route is what actually exists. Some committees are elected by the House: the Committee on Estimates has thirty members elected every year by the Lok Sabha, and the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings are likewise elected, from both Houses. Others are nominated: each department-related standing committee has twenty-one members nominated by the Speaker from the Lok Sabha and ten nominated by the Chairman from the Rajya Sabha. Ad hoc bodies such as select and joint committees on Bills are constituted on a motion adopted by the House. Since all three methods are in use, only an option that names all three can be correct.

• (a)The Members are only appointed. — Too narrow. Appointment on a motion is one route, used for select and joint committees on Bills, but it leaves out the elected financial committees and the nominated departmental committees.
• (b)The Members are only elected. — Election alone would exclude the department-related standing committees, whose thirty-one members are nominated by the Speaker and the Chairman.
• (c)The Members are only nominated. — Nomination alone would exclude the Committee on Estimates, elected annually by the Lok Sabha, and the Public Accounts Committee, elected from both Houses.

Parliamentary committees divide into standing and ad hoc. Standing committees are permanent and reconstituted periodically, and include the three financial committees — Public Accounts, Estimates and Public Undertakings — twenty-four department-related standing committees, and the other standing committees such as Business Advisory, Privileges, Rules and Library. Ad hoc committees are created for a defined task and dissolve when it is done; select and joint committees on Bills and the Railway Convention Committee fall here. The proportional representation used for the elected committees ensures every significant party finds a place.

Whenever a question offers three narrow options and one wide one, the wide one usually wins, because parliamentary practice is rarely uniform. The concrete numbers are what make that confidence solid. Estimates has thirty members, all from the Lok Sabha, elected each year. Public Accounts has twenty-two — fifteen elected by the Lok Sabha and not more than seven by the Rajya Sabha — and it is chaired by convention by a member of the Opposition. A department-related standing committee has thirty-one, nominated by the presiding officers. Holding those three shapes in mind settles almost anything asked about how these committees are formed.

• The Committee on Estimates has 30 members, elected every year by the Lok Sabha alone.
• The Public Accounts Committee has 22 members — 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and not more than 7 by the Rajya Sabha — and examines the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
• Each department-related standing committee has 31 members, 21 nominated by the Speaker and 10 by the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
• Standing committees are permanent and periodically reconstituted; ad hoc committees, such as select and joint committees on Bills, dissolve once their task is finished.
• Members of the elected committees are chosen by the single transferable vote on the principle of proportional representation.

• Assuming a single method covers all committees. Election, nomination and appointment on a motion all occur.
• Putting Rajya Sabha members on the Estimates Committee. It is drawn from the Lok Sabha only.
• Treating the Estimates Committee as ad hoc; it is a standing financial committee, while the Railway Convention Committee is the ad hoc one.

As a statements item on the composition or classification of a named committee, or as a single-answer question on how members are chosen.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Committee on Estimates of the Indian Parliament consists of members drawn from

  • (a)the Lok Sabha only
  • (b)the Rajya Sabha only
  • (c)both Houses in equal numbers
  • (d)both Houses in the ratio 2:1

  Answer(a) the Lok Sabha only — its thirty members are elected every year by the Lok Sabha, unlike the Public Accounts Committee which draws from both Houses.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The members of a department-related standing committee of Parliament are

  • (a)elected by both Houses
  • (b)nominated by the Speaker and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha
  • (c)appointed by the President
  • (d)chosen by the Prime Minister

  Answer(b) nominated by the Speaker and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha — twenty-one from the Lok Sabha and ten from the Rajya Sabha.