Srinagar, June 21:   Resolving that “all Legislatures in India may adopt a uniform Committees system”, the 2-day 75th All India Conference of the Presiding Officers of the Legislative Bodies in India concluded at Srinagar Monday afternoon.
 The Lok Sabha Speaker, Meria Kumar adjourned the Conference Sine-die with a resolve to strengthen the Committee system.
 “The Conference finally resolves that based on the experience of Parliamentary Committees, as far as practicable, all Legislatures in India may adopt a uniform Committees system,” read an official handout.
 The conference resolution, as per the official handout, reads: “The Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in India re-emphasize the need and significance of Committee system for securing accountability of the Executive to the Legislatures through in depth scrutiny of budget, monitoring and review of performance of the Ministries and Departments of Government;”
 “Making Government spending and working more transparent; detailed scrutiny of legislative proposals and examination of policy initiatives of Government. The Conference notes that though Committee system has been widely acclaimed as the best suited device for asserting Parliamentary scrutiny and control over Executive, it has not yet been implemented in many Legislatures in the country.”
 “The Conference further notes that notwithstanding the universal acknowledgment of benefits of Committee system, the functioning and efficacy of this system is not uniform in all Legislatures in India,” the handout added.
 The Conference firmly believes that Legislatures can be successful only if they have an effective Committee system in place.
 The Conference desires that the Committee system, in particular the Standing Committees, be implemented in all Legislatures in the country expeditiously.
 “The Conference further desires that urgent measures be taken for removal of inadequacies, wherever prevailing, in the existing Committee systems. With a view to making the Committees independent in the true sense of the term, Ministers should not be Chairpersons of the Committees.”
 The next Presiding Officer’s Conference shall be held in Rajasthan next year. The offer for hosting the next Conference at Rajasthan was made by the Speaker, Rajasthan, Vidhan Sabha, Deepinder Singh Shekhawat. After 2-days deliberations, the Conference passed a resolution with regard to implementation of Committee System by all the Legislatures in India.
 The Conference also decided to constitute a Committee of Presiding Officers to look into the problem of disruption of Question Hour, which may also suggest an effective solution to this problem. The Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha   K Rehman Khan will be the Chairman of the Committee. The other members of the Committee will be Speaker, Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Speaker, Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Wanglin Lowangdong, Speaker, Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha,   Dharam Lal Kaushik, Speaker, Gujarat Legislative Assembly,   Ashok Chandulal Bhatt, Speaker J&K,   Muhammad Akbar Lone, Speaker Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha,   Deependra Singh Shekhawat and Speaker, Uttar Pradesh,   Sukhdeo Rajbhar.

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