ABSTRACT
In a parliamentary polity, the legislature embodies the will of the people. It must, therefore, be able to oversee the way in which public policy is carried out so as to ensure that it keeps in tune with the objectives of socio-economic progress, efficient administration and the aspirations of the people as a whole. This, in a nutshell, is the raison d’ être of legislative surveillance of the administration. Various procedural devices like the system of committees, Questions, Adjournment Motions, Calling Attention Notices, Half-an-Hour Discussions, etc, through which the legislature becomes informed, constitute very potent instruments for effecting legislative surveillance over administrative actions. In this respect, Parliamentary Committees have come to play a major role in modern parliamentary systems as a means of ensuring executive accountability and transparency in the administration. The phenomenal proliferation of governmental activities has made the task of Parliament very complex and diversified. By its very nature, Parliament as a body cannot have complete control over the government and the whole gamut of its activities. Modern legislatures, therefore, have created, apart from other devices, a system of committees through which they strive to achieve effective surveillance over the administration.
