Department Related Standing Committees

DRSCs are parliamentary standing committees of the Houses (to be called the Standing Committees) related to Ministries/ Departments. They perform three important functions: examine Bills referred to them; select specific topics related to the ministries and examine implementation by the Government; and examine the budgetary outlays of the departments.

Features of DRSCs

Each of the Standing Committees constituted under Rule 268 shall consist of not more than 31 members, 10 members nominated by the Chairman from amongst the members of the Council, and 21 members nominated by the Speaker from amongst the members of the House.
The Chairman of each of the Committees specified in Part I of the Third Schedule shall be appointed by the Chairman of the Council from amongst members of the respective Committees, and the Chairman of each of the Committees specified in Part II of the said Schedule shall correspondingly be appointed by the Speaker.
A member of a Committee shall hold office for a term not exceeding one year.
Report of the Committee

. The report of the Standing Committee shall be based on broad consensus.

. Any member of the Committee may record a minute of dissent on the report of the Committee.

. The report of the Committee, together with the minutes of dissent, if any, shall be presented to the Houses.

Significance

The DRSCs were formed in 1993; prior to that, there was no systematic process to examine Bills, and select committees were formed from time to time for some important Bills.
Each DRSC focuses on a set of ministries and, therefore, helps its members build sector knowledge.
Currently, there are 24 DRSCs such as the Committee on Finance or the Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture.
The DRSC usually invites experts while scrutinizing Bills.
However the recommendations of committees are not binding. It is for the Government or any other member to move the relevant amendments, which may then be voted upon by the House.
The Standing Committees do not consider the matters of day-to-day administration of the concerned Ministries/ Departments. These Committees also do not generally consider the matters which are under consideration by other Parliamentary Committees.