Parliamentary Committees: Meeting the Epistemic Threshold of Legislation

Abstract

Parliamentary committees are evolution of practice and procedures of legislations in liberal democracies over the years. The strength of a procedural democracy is enriched by the way the committees act to provide scrutiny, evaluation, and the improvement of the legislation and policy outcomes. This article articulates the imperative of parliamentary committees in strengthening legislation and policy commitments. How do parliamentary committees improve legislations and policy formulation in majoritarian democracies? This article includes the following sections: first, it discusses the meaning, role and objectives of parliamentary Standing Committees. Second, it focusses on the types of committees and their constitutional role in the process of legislation. Third, it deals with elaborate examination of the functions of the committees. The last section explores the recent trends of the functioning of the committees. The author concludes with the remark that the success of parliamentary democracy as an institution of representation would be strengthened with an integrated and independent role of parliamentary committees.