Haryana Vidhan Sabha » Committee System Overview

Committee System Overview

 General Rules of Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Haryana Legislative Assembly

  •  Appointment of a Committee of the Assembly –

204. (1) The members of a Committee of the Assembly shall be appointed by the Assembly on a motion made, or nominated by the Speaker, as the case may be.

(2) No member shall be appointed to a Committee of the Assembly if he is not willing to serve on the Committee. The mover shall ascertain whether such member proposed to be named by him is willing to serve on the Committee.

(3) Casual vacancies in a Committee shall be filled by election or nomination, as the case may be, and any member elected or nominated to fill such vacancy shall hold office for the period for which the member in whose place he is elected or nominated would have normally held office.

  • Resignation of members from Committee –

205. A member may resign his seat from a committee by writing under his hand, addressed to the speaker.

  •  Chairperson of the Committee –

206. (1) The 1[Chairperson] of a Committee shall be appointed by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee:

Provided that if the Deputy Speaker is a 1a[member] of the committee, he shall be appointed Chairperson of the Committee.

(2) If the Chairperson is for any reason unable to act, the Speaker may similarly appoint another Chairperson in his place.

(3) If the Chairperson is absent from any meeting the Committee shall choose another member to act as Chairperson for that meeting.

  •  Quorum –

207. (1) Unless otherwise provided under the rules, the quorum to constitute a meeting of the Committee shall, be as near as may be, one-third of the total number of members, the fraction, if any, being ignored.

(2) If at any time fixed for any meeting of the Committee, or if at any time during any such meeting, there is no quorum the Chairperson of the Committee shall either suspend the meeting until there is a quorum or adjourn the meeting to some future day.

(3) When the Committee has been adjourned in pursuance of sub-rule (2) on two successive dates fixed for meetings of the Committee, the Chairperson shall report the fact to the Assembly:

Provided that where a Committee has been appointed by the Speaker, the Chairperson shall report the fact of such adjournment to the Speaker.

  • Voting in Committee –

208. All questions at any sitting of a Committee shall be determined by a majority of votes of the members present and voting.

  • Casting vote of Chairperson –

209. In the case of an equality of votes on any matter, the Chairperson shall have a second or casting vote.

  • Power to appoint Sub Committee –

210. (1) A Committee may appoint one or more sub-committees, each having the powers of the undivided Committee, to examine any matter that may be referred to them, and the reports of such sub-committees shall be deemed to be the reports of the whole Committee, if they are approved at a meeting of the whole Committee.

(2) The order of reference to a sub-committee shall clearly state the point or points for investigation. The report of the sub-committee shall be considered by the whole Committee.

  • Sittings of Committee. –

211. The sittings of a Committee shall be held on such days and at such hours as the Chairperson of the Committee may fix:

Provided that if the Chairperson of the Committee is not readily available, the Secretary may fix the date and time of a sitting.

  •  Committee may sit whilst the Assembly is sitting –

212. A Committee may sit whilst the Assembly is sitting, provided that on a division being called in the Assembly, the Chairperson of the Committee shall suspend the proceedings in the Committee for such time as will in his opinion enable the members to vote in a division.

  •  Sitting of Committee in Private –

213. The sittings of a Committee shall be held in private.

  • Venue of sittings –

214. The sittings of a Committee shall be held within the precincts of the Assembly and if it becomes necessary to change the place of sitting outside the Assembly premises, the matter shall be referred to the Speaker whose decision shall be final.

  •  All stranger to withdraw when the Committee is deliberating –

215. All persons other than members of the Committee and Officers of the Assembly and such other Officers/Officials of the Government who may be asked by the Committee to be present, shall withdraw whenever the Committee is deliberating.

  • Power to take evidence or call for papers, records or documents –

216. (1) A witness may be summoned by an order signed by the Secretary and shall produce such documents as are required for the use of a Committee.

(2) It shall be in the discretion of the Committee to treat any evidence tendered before it as secret or confidential.

(3) No document submitted to the Committee shall be withdrawn or altered without the knowledge and approval of the Committee.

  •  Counsel for witness –

2[216A.  A Committee may, under the direction of the Speaker, permit a witness to be heard by a counsel appointed by him and approved by the Committee.]

  • Evidence on oath.

3[216B. (1) A Committee may administer oath or affirmation to a witness examined before it.

(2) The form of the oath or affirmation shall be as follows :

“I, A.B., swear in the name of God/solemnly affirm that the evidence which I shall give in this case shall be true, that I will conceal nothing, and that no part of my evidence shall be false.”]

  • Power of Committees of the Assembly to stand for persons, papers and records.

217. A Committee of the Assembly shall have power to send for persons, papers and records:

Provided that if any question arises whether the evidence of a person or the production of a document is relevant for purposes of the Committee, the question shall be referred to the Speaker whose decision shall be final .

Provided further that Government may decline to produce a document on the ground that its disclosure would be prejudicial to safety or interest of the State.

  • Special Reports –

218. A Committee of the Assembly may, if it thinks fit, make a special report on any matter that arises or comes to light in the course of its work, which it may consider necessary to bring to the notice of the Speaker or the Assembly, notwithstanding that such matter is not directly connected with, or does not fall within or is not incidental to, its terms of reference.

  •  Evidence, report and proceedings treated as confidential –

219. (1) A Committee may direct that the whole or a part of the evidence or a summary thereof may be laid on the Table.

(2) No part of the evidence, oral or written, report or proceedings of a Committee which has not been laid on the Table of the Assembly shall be open to inspection by anyone except under the authority of the Speaker.

(3) The evidence given before a Committee of the Assembly shall not be published by any member of the Committee or by any other person until it has been laid before the Assembly:

Provided that the Speaker may, in his discretion, direct that such evidence be confidentially made available to members before it is formally laid before the Assembly.

  •  Procedure for examining witnesses –

220. The examination of witnesses before a Committee shall be conducted as follows:

(1) The Committee shall, before a witness is called for examination, decide the mode of procedure and the nature of questions that may be put to the witness.

(2) The Chairperson of the Committee may first put to the witness such question or questions as he may consider necessary with reference to the subject matter under consideration or any connected subject thereto according to the mode of procedure mentioned in clause (1) of this rule.

(3) The Chairperson may call other members of the Committee one by one to put any other questions.

(4) A witness may be asked to place before the Committee any other relevant points that have not been covered and which a witness thinks are essential to be placed before the Committee.

(5) A record of proceedings of the Committee, when a witness is summoned to give evidence, shall be kept.

(6) The evidence tendered before the Committee may be made available to all members of the Committee.

  •  Report of the Committee –

221. (1) Except as otherwise provided, the report of a Committee shall be presented at the earliest possible opportunity and in the case of the Public Accounts Committee and the Estimates Committee not later than the first session of the year.

(2) Reports may be either preliminary or final.

(3) The report of the Committee shall be signed by the Chairperson on behalf of the Committee:

Provided that in case the Chairperson is absent or is not readily available the Committee shall choose another member to sign the report on behalf of the Committee.

  •  Availability of reports before presentation to Government –

222. A Committee may, if it thinks fit, make available to Government any completed part of its report before presentation to the Assembly. Such reports shall be treated as confidential until presented to the Assembly.

  •  Presentation of Report –

223. (1) The report of a Committee shall be presented to the Assembly by the Chairperson or in his absence, by any member of the Committee.

(2) In presenting the report the Chairperson, or, in his absence the member presenting the report shall, if he makes any remarks, confine himself to a brief statement of fact but there shall be no debate on that statement.

  • Printing, publication or circulation of report prior to its presentation of the Assembly –

224. The Speaker, may, on a request being made to him and when the Assembly is not in Session, order the printing, publication or circulation of a report of a Committee although it has not been presented to the Assembly. In that case the report shall be presented to the Assembly during its next session at the first convenient opportunity.

  • Power to make suggestions on procedure –

225. A Committee of the Assembly shall have power to pass resolutions on matters of procedure relating to that Committee for the consideration of the Speaker, who may make such variations in procedure as he may consider necessary.

  •  Power of Speaker to give direction on a point of procedure or otherwise –

226. (1) The Speaker may, from time to time, issue such directions to the Chairperson of a Committee as he may consider necessary for regulating its procedure and the organization of its work.

(2) If any doubt arises on any point of procedure or otherwise, the Chairperson may, if he thinks fit, refer the point to the Speaker whose decision shall be final.

  •  Business before the Committee –

4[227]. Any business pending before a Assembly Committee shall not lapse by reason only of the prorogation of the House and Assembly Committee shall continue to function notwithstanding such prorogation.

  •  Unfinished work of Committees of the Assembly –

228. A Committee of the Assembly which is unable to complete its work may report to the Assembly that the Committee has not been able to complete its work. Any preliminary report, memorandum or note that the Committee may have prepared or any evidence that the Committee may have been taken shall be made available to the new Committee:

Provided that any matter referred to or pending before a Committee before the appointed day, shall stand referred to, or as the case may, be deemed to be pending before the corresponding Committee, after the appointed day.

  •  Secretary to be ex-officio Secretary of the Committee –

5[229. The Secretary shall be the ex-officio Secretary of all the Committees appointed under these rules.]

  •  Applicability of general rules to Committee –

6[230. Except for matters for which special provision is made in the rules relating to any particular Committee, the general rules in this Chapter shall apply to all the Committees; and if and so far as any provision in the special rules relating to a Committee is inconsistent with the general rules, the former rules shall prevail]

  1. Substituted by notification dated 23-1-98 wherever occurs in these rules.
    1. Subsituted ibid.
  2. Amended by notification dated 23-1-98.
  3. Amended ibid.
  4. Inserted by notification dated 14-3-1978.
  5. Added by notification dated 23-1-98
  6. Added ibid.