Question

Consider the following statements on Parliamentary Committees:
1. Members of the Rajya Sabha are not associated with the Committees on Public Accounts and Public Undertakings.
2. Members of the Committee on Estimates are drawn from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A.1 only
B.2 only
C.Both 1 and 2
D.Neither 1 nor 2

Answer 1

Hint:
The Parliament has to perform complex and varied types of functions. A committee can be called a Parliamentary committee only when it is appointed or elected by the house or only in case if it is nominated by the Speaker or the Chairman; it has a secretariat provided either by the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha secretariat.

Complete solution:
A Parliamentary Committee can either be a Standing Committees or an Ad hoc Committee. Standing Committees signify permanent committees. Plus they are constituted for a fixed tenure.

The committee consists of 22 members, that include 15 members which are elected by the Lok Sabha and the remaining 7 by the Rajya Sabha. These members are elected by the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote in both the houses of the Parliament.

The key function of the committee refers to examine the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the undertakings of the public.

The most important function of this committee is to report economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be affected.


Hence, the correct answer is option D.

Note:
The Public Accounts Committee members are elected by the Parliament annually amongst its members following the principle of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote so as to provide equal representation to all the parties. The committee's chairman is appointed by the speaker from amongst its members. As per now, it has 22 members (15 from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha). Its function primarily is to examine public expenditure.
The Estimates Committee in today's time has 30 members in all and all the thirty members belong to Lok Sabha. Its main function is to examine the estimates that are included in the budget and suggest alternate economic policies accordingly.