CHAPTER -
VIII
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE
8.1 The present Consultative Committees of
Members of Parliament in their broad features, owe their origin to the
suggestion set out by the late Prime Minister Shri Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1954 in
a note circulated to the Members of the Cabinet. Shri Nehru wanted some kind of Standing Advisory Consultative
Committees of Parliament to provide opportunity to Members to have some glimpse
into the working of the Government which would also have the effect of reducing
the number of questions asked by Members.
Accordingly, Informal Consultative Committees were constituted for the
various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India.
8.2 In 1969, discussions were held with Leaders of Opposition
Parties/Groups in Parliament and detailed guidelines (Appendix XII) were drawn up for constitution and functioning of
these Committees. It was also then decided that these Committees would be known
as "Consultative Committees" retaining, however, the informal nature
of deliberations in these Committees. These Committees have, since then, been
functioning under these guidelines.
8.3 The main features of these Committees
are as under:-
i) The
membership of these Committees is voluntary and is left to the choice of the
Members and the Leaders of their Parties.
ii) The
main objective of these Committees is informal consultation between the
Government and the Members of Parliament on the policies and programmes of the
Government and the manner of implementation thereof.
iii) The Committees
are chaired by the Ministers incharge of the Ministries to which the Committees
relate.
iv) The maximum
membership of a Committee is 40. The
Committees are normally constituted if there are 10 or more Members who have
chosen to be nominated on the Committee.
v) Members
can be nominated as Permanent Special Invitees on a Consultative Committee if
they have special interest in the subjects of a particular
Ministry/Department. The maximum number
of Permanent Special Invitees on a Consultative Committee can be 4 Members.
vi) Meetings of these
Committees are held both during Session periods and Inter- Session periods.
vii) Agenda items are
either called from Members or decided by the Ministry themselves in
consultation with the Members of the Committee.
viii) Members, who are not Members of a Committee, may be
invited to the meetings of the Committee as special invitees if they have given
notice of any subject for inclusion
in the agenda and the same has
been included in the agenda or if they
express their desire to participate in the discussion of any meeting of such
Committee and the same has been approved by the Minister of Parliamentary
Affairs.
ix) No decisions are taken by these Committees. However, where there is unanimity of view in
the Committee, Government will normally accept the view subject to certain
conditions laid down in the guidelines.
x) Senior
Officers of the Ministries are present at the meetings to assist the Ministers
and to furnish any clarifications required.
xi) In
keeping with the informal nature of discussion at the meeting, the guildelines
make it incumbent on the Members and also on the Government not to mention on
the floor of either House about anything that happens in these Committees.
8.4
After the General Elections to the Thirteenth Lok
Sabha, 30 Consultative Committees for
various Ministries/Department were constituted in 2000. However, due to re-organisation of certain
Ministries/Department during the period under report , nomenclature of the
following Consultative Committees has been changed :-
i) In view of the merger of the
Ministry of Mines with the Ministry of Coal, the Consultative Committee for the
Ministry of Coal was renamed as the Consultative Committee for the Ministry of
Coal and Mines ( There was no Consultative Committee for the Ministry of
Mines).
ii)
In view of the merger of the Ministries of (i)
Communications and (ii) Information Technology, the Consultative Committees for
these Ministries were merged to form one
Consultative Committee for the Ministry of Communications and
Information Technology.
8.5 At present there are 29
Consultative Committees for various Ministries/Departments as indicated in
Appendix - ' XIII ' . The details regarding the meetings of those Committees
held during the period under Report and important subjects discussed therein
are given in Appendix- 'XIV ' .
8.6 A workshop for MPs was arranged at Hyderabad from 2nd
to 4th June, 2001 in coordination with the
National Institute of Rural Development on the subject, ‘Rural
Industrialisation, Employment Generation and Poverty Alleviation - Policies and
Issues’. 32 Members of Parliament ( 25 of Lok Sabha and 7 of Rajya Sabha)
attended the workshop which was inaugurated by the Minster of Parliamentary
Affairs on 2nd June ,2001.
Informal Consultative
Committees of Railway Zones.
8.7 Informal Consultative Committees of Members of Parliament are
constituted for all the Railway Zones.
There are nine such Committees.
All the Members of Parliament belonging to the area of a particular
Railway Zone are nominated on the Informal Consultative Committee of that
Railway Zone.
8.8 The discussion at the
meetings of these Committees are purely
informal. Members are at liberty to
raise any points relating to the working of Railway in their Zones.
8.9
The meetings of these Committees are held only
during the session periods. No TA/DA is required to be paid for attending the
meetings of the Informal Consultative Committees. The meetings of the following
Informal Consultative Committees ( ICCs )were held during the period under report:-
ICC for Date of meeting
i) Northern Railway Zone 24.4.2001
ii) Western Railway Zone 31.7.2001
iii) North Eastern Railway Zone 08.8.2001
iv) South Eastern Railway Zone 29.8.2001
Meetings/Visits of
Consultative Committees Outside Delhi
8.10 One meeting of a Consultative Committee
can be held outside Delhi in a year during an inter-session period anywhere in
India. During the period under report,
meetings of the Consultative Committees of the following Ministries were held
outside Delhi:-
S.No. Name of Ministry Date
and place of meeting
(i)
Agriculture
7.6.2001 at Shimla
(ii) Chemicals and Fertilizers 12.11.2001 at
Ludhiana
(iii)
Civil Aviation
14&15.5.2001 at Manali
( iv)
Coal 12.5.2001
at Neyveli
(v) Communications 2.11.2001
at Kolkata
(vi) Environment
& Forests 29 & 30.1.2001 at Coimbatore
(vii) Health
& Family Welfare
29 & 30.9.2001 at Goa
(viii) Information
Technology 17&18.1.2001 at Hyderabad
(ix)
Power 10.11.2001
at Pondicherry
(x) Steel 16.6.2001 at Hyderabad
(xi)
Textiles 8.11.2001
at Hyderabad
(xii)
Water Resources 16
& 17.2.2001 at Mysore
8.11 (i) The Consultative Committee for the Ministry
of Information Technology visited the
Electronic Research &
Development Corporation of India , Kolkata on 1.11.2001.
(ii) The Consultative Committee for the Ministry
of Steel visited the Kurdrumukh Iron Ore Company at Mangalore
on 9 & 10.11.2001.
Home| Content | Previous |
Next