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TAMIL NADU LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY 46. Legislature Committees. The Legislature transacts a great deal of business and discharges its responsibilities and over-seeing functions through its Standing Committees. These Committees are appointed by the House or by nomination by the Speaker. The system of Legislature Committees is very useful in dealing with matters, which could be considered in detail by a small number of Members rather than the House itself. Further the House does not have the necessary expertise or the time to discuss such matters in detail and decide. Hence recourse to the Committee system is made. After the Constitution came into force, the Committees of the House have gained a major role in overseeing the various aspects of the Government. A Committee is called "Legislature Committee", if it is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the Speaker. It works under the direction of the Speaker and presents its report to the House or to the Speaker. Secretarial assistance to the Committees is rendered by the Legislature Secretariat. The Committees can be divided into 'Financial Committees' "Scrutiny Committees" and other "Permanent Committees" of the House. The Committee on Estimates, The Committee on Public Accounts and the Committee on Public Undertakings are the "Financial Committees". (1) Committee on Estimates. The Committee on Estimates consists of sixteen Members elected by the Assembly from among its Members. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker. The term of Office of the Committee is one year or until a subsequent Committee is elected. The Minister for Finance, the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Public Undertakings Committee are ex-officio members of the Committee. The functions of the Committee are:- (1) to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates can be effected. (2) to suggest alternative policies in order to bring about efficiency and economy in administration; (3) to examine whether the money is well laid-out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and (4) to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to the Legislature; Provided that the Committee shall not exercise its functions in relation to such Public Undertakings as are allotted to the Committee on Public Undertaking by the Assembly Rules or by the Speaker. The Committee examines each year such of those estimates as may seem fit to it or are specifically referred to it by the House. The Committee hears officials or takes evidence connected with the estimates under examination. The Committee also undertakes tours within and outside the State to study the various projects and schemes under execution in regard to the estimates under examination. (2) Committee on Public Accounts. The Committee on Public Accounts consists sixteen Members elected by the Assembly from among its members . The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from amongst the Members of the Committee, preferably from those belonging to the Opposition. The Finance Minister, the Chairman of the Estimates Committee and Public Undertakings Committee are ex-officio members of the Committee. Provided that if there is more than one party in the opposition, then the Speaker may alternate the office of the Chairman of the Committee yearly from among the leaders of such opposition parties or if they so desire any other Member belonging to those parties. Provided further that if the accounts to be examined by the Committee relate to a period during which the Chairman to be so nominated belonged to the party which was in the Government, then the Speaker may nominate the Chairman from any other party. The term of office of the Committee is for one year or until a new Committee is elected. In order to constitute a meeting of the Committee, the quorum shall be five including the Chairman or the member presiding. The important functions of the Committee are to scrutinise the Appropriation Accounts of the State and the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (Civil) and Revenue receipts thereon and to satisfy itself that the moneys shown in the accounts as having been disbursed were legally available for and applicable to the services or purposes to which they had been applied and charged, that the expenditure conformed to the authority which governed it, etc. (3) Committee on Public Undertakings The Committee on Public Undertakings, one of the three Financial Committees, was constituted for the first time in April, 1973. The Committee consists of 16 members elected by the Assembly from amongst its members. The Chairman of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee. The Chairman of the Estimates Committee and the Public Accounts Committee are ex-officio members of the Committee. The term of office of the Committee shall not exceed one year. The quorum for the meeting of the Committee shall be five including the Chairman or the member presiding. A Minister is not eligible to become or continue to be a member of the Committee. It is the primary concern of the Committee to examine the Audit reports and accounts of Public Undertaking as may be notified by the Speaker from time to time. The Committee also examines, in the context of the autonomy and efficiency of the Public Undertakings, whether the affairs of the Public Undertakings are being managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices. But the Committee does not concern itself with matters relating to day-to-day administration of the Undertakings. The Committee also examines the Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the Public Undertakings. The Committee selects every year for detailed examination such Public Undertakings or such subjects as they deem fit. The Committee, while examining the working of the Undertakings under its purview, hears officials or takes evidence connected with such undertakings and makes recommendations to the House. Soon after the formation of any new Public Undertaking by the Government the fact should be notified to the House with a short note as the reasons and objects for such formation. The Committee has further recommended that the annual financial statement of accounts of the various public undertakings in the State should be laid within the time granted in the relevant Statutes. If there is any delay in laying the accounts, it should be accompanied by a note explaining the reasons for such delay. (4) Committee of Privileges The Committee of Privileges is constituted under Rule 227 of the Assembly Rules. The Committee of Privileges consists of the Leader of the House, the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Speaker who are members ex-officio and fourteen other members to be elected by the Assembly from amongst its members. The Committee shall hold office for each financial year or till a new Committee is constituted. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee. By convention the Deputy Speaker is nominated as the Chairman of the Committee. The functions of the Committee is to examine and report to the House about their findings on the cases of breach of privilege that are referred to it by the House or by the Speaker. Notice of a motion to raise a matter of privilege together with brief statement shall be given at least one hour before the commencement of the sitting on the day on which the motion is proposed to be made to the Speaker, the Leader of the House and the Secretary and consent of the Speaker shall be obtained. The notices intended for the Leader of the House may be handed over to the Secretary for forwarding it to the Leader of the House, the Speaker may waive such notice and deal with the matter as he deems fit. A matter of privilege must be raised after the questions and before the list of business for the day is entered upon. The matter of privilege arising during the sitting of the House shall be entitled to immediate precedence over all other business. The Speaker, before giving his consent to the matter being raised in the House, must satisfy himself that the matter proposed to be raised is of recent occurrence and that it warrants the interference of the House. The Speaker is empowered to withhold his consent if the matter is of a trivial nature. In the case of a breach of privilege committed in the actual view of the House, the matter shall be dealt with by the House immediately without reference to the Committee. If the Speaker holds that a prima facie case has been made out, the matter is referred to the Privilege Committee on a motion moved by a Member. After the presentation of the Report of the Committee on a matters referred to it, the House on a motion moved by the Chairman or any Member of the Committee or any other Member, takes decision on its recommendation. (5) Business Advisory Committee The Committee is nominated by the Speaker at the commencement of the House or from time to time, as the case may be, and it consists of Hon. Speaker, Leader of the House and fifteen other members including the Speaker who shall be the Chairman of the Committee. The functions of the Committee are- (1) to recommend the time that should be allocated for the discussion of the stage or stages of such Government Bills and other business as the Speaker may refer to the Committee; (2) to indicate in the proposed time-table, the different hours at which the various stages of the Bills and other Business shall be completed. (3) to attend to such other functions as may be assigned to it by the Speaker from time to time. (6) Committee on Delegated Legislation The Committee on Delegated Legislation consists of 12 Members of Legislative Assembly nominated by the Speaker. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee. The Committee is constituted for each Financial Year. One of the essential functions of a Legislature is to legislate. Due to want of time, it is not possible for the Legislature to lay down all the minute working details in the legislation itself. Recourse is therefore made for delegated legislation, that is, empowering either the Government or some other authority to make rules for implementation of the Act, to obtain flexibility, elasticity, expedition and opportunity for experimentation. The authority to whom power is delegated for framing Rules under any particular legislation should strictly conform to the authority delegated to it and also follow the recognised principles for such exercise. The Legislature lays down the essential principles in the enactment leaving the working details to be formulated in the form or regulations, rules, sub-rules, bye-laws, etc., in pursuance of the powers conferred by the various enactments to see that such power is exercised within the limits formulated in the Act. It also scrutinises to see whether it is in accordance with the General Objectives of the Act, whether it contains matters which ought to have been dealt with by the Legislature in the enactment itself, whether it empowers taxation, whether it indirectly or directly bars the jurisdiction of the court or whether it involves provision of any rule which the original enactment does not empower. (7) Committee on Government Assurances The Committee consists of 12 members of the Assembly nominated by the Speaker for each financial year. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from amongst its members. The functions of the Committee are to scrutinise the assurances, promises, undertakings, etc., given by the Ministers on the floor of the House and report to the House on the extent to which such assurances, etc., have been implemented and when implemented, whether such implementation has taken place within the minimum time necessary for the purpose. The Committee has to make a report to the House once in six months. (8) Committee on Rules. The Rules Committee is nominated by the Speaker and it consists of 17 Members, including the Speaker. The Speaker is the ex-officio Chairman of the Committee. The term of office of the Committee is for one year or until a new Committee is nominated. The functions of the Committee are to consider matters of procedure and conduct of business in the House and to recommend any amendments or additions to the rules that may be deemed necessary. Any Member desirous of moving any amendment to the rules shall give notice of his intention to the Secretary, accompanied by a draft of the proposed amendments together with explanatory note which will be placed before the Committee for its consideration and for recommending such changes as it may consider fit. Within seven days after the Report of the Committee is laid on the table of the House, any Member may give notice of an amendment to such recommendations contained in it. Amendments if any received will be referred to the Committee for its consideration and report. The recommendations in the final report is adopted by the House on a motion moved for this purpose. After approval of the House the amendments to the Rules will be promulgated by the Speaker in the Gazette or information sheet. If no amendments are received within the period of seven days, the recommendations of the Committee shall be deemed to have been approved by the House and they will be published in the Gazette or information sheet under the orders of the Speaker. The amendments shall come into force on the date of such publication unless otherwise specified. The Rules Committee of the Seventh Assembly has recommended a number of changes in the rules, and the report has been presented to the Speaker. However, the report will be placed before the Eighth Assembly and after following due procedure, will be given effect to. (9) House Committee A Committee called the House Committee is constituted every financial year to advise and consider all matters connected with the comfort and convenience of the Members. A Member who is a resident of Legislators Hostel shall be nominated as Chairman of the Committee. The Committee consists of eighteen members to be nominated by the Speaker. The Committee shall meet atleast once in three months. The Committee also looks after the convenience of Members residing in the Legislator's Hostels. The Committee passes resolutions at its meetings regarding amenities to be provided for the Members and they are implemented by the Legislative Assembly Secretariat in consultation with other Departments of Secretariat. The Rules Committee has recommended that all the members of the Committee be nominated by the Speaker, and that an inmate of the Hostel should be nominated as Chairman of the Committee. The Rules Committee of the Seventh Legislative Assembly has suggested the formation of three more Committees - (1) Committee on Petitions. (2) Library Committee and (3) Committee on Papers Laid on the Table of the House. (10) Committee on Petitions The Committee on Petitions consists of 11 Members nominated by the Speaker. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from among the Members of the Committee. First Committee was constituted on 13.5.1986. The term of office of the Members of the Committee expires at the end of each financial year. If the new Committee is not constituted at the end of the financial year the existing members of the Committee will continue to hold office until a new Committee is constituted. In order to constitute a meeting of the Committee, the quorum shall be four including the Chairman or the member presiding. The Committee examines every petition referred to it by the House or by the Speaker. If the petition deals with Bills or other matters pending before the House and if it complies with these rules, the Committee may direct that it be circulated to all the Members of the House. The Speaker may also at any time direct that the petition be circulated. Circulations of the petition shall be in detail or in summary form as the Committee or the Speaker, as the case may be, may direct. It is also be the duty of the Committee to report to the Assembly on specific complaints made in the petition referred to it after taking such evidence as it deems fit and to suggest remedial measure either in a concrete form applicable to the case under review or prevent such cases in future. The Committee may also consider representations, letters and telegrams received by it direct and give direction for their disposal provided that they are addressed to the Speaker or Committee in conformity with rule 276 of Tamil Nadu Assembly Rules and do not relate solely to individual or private grievances. (11) Committee on Papers Laid on the Table The Committee on Papers Laid on the Table consists of eleven members nominated by the Speaker. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from among the Members of the Committee. The term of office of the members of the Committee expires at the end of each financial year. If the new Committee is not constituted at the end of the financial year the existing members of the Committee will continue to hold office until a new Committee is constituted. In order to constitute a meeting of the Committee, the quorum shall be four including the Chairman or the member presiding. The Committee examines all papers entered in the Agenda as laid on the Table of the House in pursuance of any statute and to report to the House on- (a) Whether there has been compliance of the provisions of the statute or rule or regulation under which the paper has been laid. (b) Whether there has been any unreasonable delay in laying the paper. (c) If there has been such delay whether a statement explaining the reasons for delay has been laid on the table of the House and whether those reasons are satisfactory. The Committee performs such other functions in respect of the papers laid on the Table as may be assigned to it by the Speaker from time to time. This shall not apply to matters falling within the jurisdiction of the Committee on Delegated Legislation. (12) Library Committee Library Committee consists of 10 members nominated by the Speaker. The Chairman of the Committee is nominated by the Speaker from among the members of the Committee. The term of office of the members of the Committee expires at the end of each financial year. If new Committee is not constituted at the end of the financial year, the existing members of the Committee will continue to hold office until new members are nominated. The Speaker is the Chairman of the Committee The Secretary of the Assembly is the Secretary of the Committee. Casual vacancies are filled in by nomination by the Speaker. The Committee decides upon matters of policy connected with the Legislature Library, Library Services to members and consider suggestions for their improvement. The meetings of the Committee are held as and when necessary and the Committee shall hold a meeting at least once in three months. In other respects the general rules applicable to a Select Committee shall apply with such adaptation whether by way of modification, addition or omission the Speaker may consider necessary or convenient. (13) Select Committee. Select Committees are adhoc committees constituted for some specific purpose. Sometime Government wants to thoroughly scrutinise a particular Legislation before it is passed by the Assembly. The importance of scrutinising the Legislation needs no emphasis. Legislation is the responsibility of the Legislature and it is the Legislation that must take ultimate blame if the laws it enacts are found to contain legal flaws. Hence the Bill is referred to the Select Committee by a 'Motion' adopted by the House. The Motion itself contains the names of Members. The Members in-charge of the Bill, the Minister in-charge of the Department will be the members of the Select Committee. The Chairman of the Select Committee is nominated by the Speaker. The Committee may hear expert evidence and representatives of special interest. It considers clauses and finalises its report. Any member may give a minute of dissent to report. The report together with the Bill as reported by the Committee will be presented to the House. During the period of 7th Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (1981-1984) the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Society Bill, 1980 (L.A.Bill No.45 of 1980) was referred to Select Committee on 12-8-1980 for scrutiny and the Committee presented its report to the Assembly on 29-3-1982. 47. Elections to certain Statutory Bodies. The Members willing to serve in the Senate or Academic Council of the Universities in Tamil Nadu should file their nominations in accordance with the Rules, Election process will be followed soon after the announcement made by the Speaker in the House. Necessary information in this regard may be collected by the Members from the Secretary. 48. Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association is an organisation which aims to promote understanding and co-operation for common purpose between those engaged in the Parliamentary Government of the countries of the Commonwealth by the establishment of a machinery for the exchange of information and of individual visits and for organisation of conferences between members of the Legislatures of the Commonwealth and also to promote understanding and co-operation by similar means between those members and the members of the Legislatures outside the Commonwealth having close political and Parliamentary Association with them. 49. Disclosure of Assets of Members of Legislative Assembly In pursuance of the resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on 27th August 1969, every member including Ministers and Presiding Officers if he/she elected or nominated after such date as soon as may be after such election or nomination and thereafter at intervals of every twelve months ending 31st day of March, submit to the House of which he/she is a member, a return, in the prescribed form, of all assets and liabilities owned, acquired or inherited by the Member or held by him/her on lease or mortgage either in his/her own name or in the name of any member of his/her family together with details of the means by which or the source from which such property was acquired or inherited. The return should be submitted on or before 30th September of the successive year. The returns as soon as possible after they are submitted will be placed on the table of the House. ***** |
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