Rule on Parliament panels' scrutiny tweaked to expedite Finance Bill

There are 24 department-related standing committees covering under their jurisdiction all the ministries/departments of the government

To expedite the passage of the Finance Bill, the Rajya Sabha on Monday adopted a motion suspending the rule that entails that department-related parliamentary standing committees scrutinise and approve the demands for grants of respective ministries.

The terms of the previous committees expired in May. New committees are not in place as the Lok Sabha elections were on at the time. The Opposition supported the motion to suspend ‘Rule 272’ that mandates scrutiny by committees, but demanded an assurance that committees will soon be constituted. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan termed it an “emergency provision”, but said there