Assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahato after getting lockdown relaxation on Wednesday convened two different meetings of Assembly committees. The regular meeting of different Assembly committees was put on brake due to enforcement of strict lockdown necessitated to break the coronavirus chain. Assembly speaker, Mahato said, “Due to lockdown the regular meetings of different Assembly committees were stalled. But, in parliamentary democracy the role of such committees gains importance. Such committees’ role becomes more important when the house is adjourned.”
Mahato said, “The committee functions as mini Assembly giving suggestion to State government on regular intervals. In the meeting we assessed the work of different committees at the same time we also decided to start the Assembly work while maintaining social distancing.” He also said that it has been observed that in Centre, government accepts 60 per cent of the suggestion provided by different parliamentary committees, while at State level government accepts 75 to 80 per cent of the suggestion or recommendation provided by different assembly committees.
The role of such committees can be gauged from the fact that State legislatures sit for 31 days a year on an average. Several bills are passed within the days of introduction. One of the primary objectives of legislature is to hold the executive accountable and examinee potential laws, but due to paucity of time it is difficult for the members to go through all the bills and discuss them in detail. To address this issue, various committees are set up in state assemblies where smaller group of members examine bills in detail, and allow for an informed debate in the legislature.
Apart from scrutinizing legislation, committees also examine budgetary allocations for various departments and other policies of the government. These mini-legislatures provide a forum for law makers to develop expertise, engage with citizens and seek inputs from stakeholders.
Since these committees consist of members from different parties, they provide a platform for building consensus on various issues.
Recently, Speaker Rabindranath Mahato constituted a total of 23 new committees for the year 2020-2021. The Chairman of Jharkhand Legislative Rules Committee, Privileges Committee Petitions Committee is the Chairman of Jharkhand Assembly itself. The role of the committee is in monitoring, accounting and better functioning of the functions of various departments of the government. The committees also make important suggestions to the government departments. All committees have been notified from May 23.
Some of the lawmakers who are members of different committees include, Neelkanth Singh Munda - Chairman Public Accounts Committee, Saryu Roy, Chairman General Sponsorship Committee, Sudesh Mahto- Chairman Youth Welfare Culture and Tourism Development Committee, Chandreshwar Prasad Singh - Chairman, MLA Fund Monitoring Committee, Irfan Ansari - Chairman Library Development Committee, Vinod Kumar Singh - Chairman Expected Legislative Committee among others.