Cabinet Committees
Under the Transaction of Business Rules, the Government has recently reconstituted Cabinet Committees. These include - Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, Cabinet Committee on Accommodation, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, Cabinet Committee on Security, Cabinet Committee on Investment and Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and Skill Development.
-
Cabinet Committees are an organizational device to reduce the enormous workload of the Cabinet and also facilitate in-depth examination of policy issues and effective coordination. They are based on the principles of division of labour and effective delegation.
-
They are extra-constitutional in emergence. In other words, they are not mentioned in the Constitution. However, the Transaction of Business Rules, 1961 provide for their establishment.
-
They are set up by the Prime Minister according to the exigencies of the time and requirements of the situation. Hence, their number, nomenclature, and composition vary from time to time. Their membership varies from three to eight. They usually include only Cabinet Ministers. However, the noncabinet Ministers are not debarred from their membership.
-
They are mostly headed by the Prime Minister. Sometimes other Cabinet Ministers, particularly the Home Minister or the Finance Minister, also acts as their Chairman. But, in case the Prime Minister is a member of a committee, he invariably presides over it.