CHAPTER-VII Page 1 of 110 CHAPTER-VII COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS I. Composition of the Committee 7. Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committees are constituted under Rule 268 of the Rules of Procedure for Conduct of Business in the Rajya Sabha. Each of the Standing Committees is related to the Ministries/Departments as specified in the Third Schedule to the Rules of Procedure. As per Part-I of the Third Schedule, there are eight such Committees under the administrative control of Rajya Sabha Secretariat. 16 such Committees, as mentioned in Part-II of the Schedule are with the Lok Sabha Secretariat. These Committees are constituted by the respective Presiding Officers of the two Houses of Parliament. The Committee on Home Affairs, (2005), one of such Committees, was constituted on 5th August, 2005 with 10 Members from Rajya Sabha and 21 from Lok Sabha. The Committee was reconstituted w.e.f. 5th August, 2006. The Committee has two Ministries under his jurisdiction, namely, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DONER). 7.2 The Committee consisted of the following Members: — COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS (Constituted on 5 August 2005) 1. Smt. Sushma Swaraj — Chairperson RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri V. Narayanasamy 3. Shri Rishang Keishing 4. Shri R.K. Dhawan 5. Shri S.S. Ahluwalia 6. Shri N. Jothi 7. Shri Janeshwar Mishra 8. Shri Satish Chandra Misra 3 9. Shri Sitaram Yechury 4 10. Shri Sanjay Raut LOK SABHA 11. Shri L.K. Advani 12. Shri S.K. Bwiswmuthiary 13. Shri C.K. Chandrappan 14. Shri Biren Singh Engti 15. Shri Rahul Gandhi 16. Shri Tapir Gao 17. Shri T.K. Hamza 18. Shri Naveen Jindal 19. Shri Ajit Jogi 20. Prof. K.M. Kader Mohideen 21. Shri Tek Lal Mahato 22. Shri Sachin Pilot 23. Shri Ashok Kumar Pradhan 24. Prof. M. Ramadass 25. Shri G. Karunakara Reddy 26. Shri Baju Ban Riyan 27. Dr. H.T. Sangliana 28. Choudhary Bijendra Singh 29. Shri Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh 30. Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy http://10.21.217.2/committeessum/2006/chapter_7_8.htm 10/3/2008 CHAPTER-VII Page 2 of 110 31. Shri Beni Prasad Verma COMMITTEE ON HOME AFFAIRS (Re-constituted on 5 August 2006) 1. Smt. Sushma Swaraj — Chairperson RAJYA SABHA 2. Shri V. Narayanasamy 3. Shri Rishang Keishing 4. Shri R.K. Dhawan 5. Shri S.S. Ahluwalia 6. Shri Janeshwar Mishra 7. Shri Prasanta Chatterjee 8. Shri N. Jothi 9. Shri Satish Chandra Misra 10. Shri Sanjay Raut LOK SABHA 11. Shri L.K. Advani 12. Dr. Rattan Singh Ajnala 13. Shri Ilyas Azmi 14. Km. Mamata Banerjee 15. Smt. Sangeeta Kumari Singh Deo 16. Shri Biren Singh Engti 17. Shri Tapir Gao 18. Shri T.K. Hamza 19. Shri Raghunath Jha 20. Shri Naveen Jindal 21. Shri Ajit Jogi 22. Prof. K.M. Kader Mohideen 23. Shri Ram Chandra Paswan 24. Shri Sachin Pilot 25. Shri Ashok Kumar Pradhan 26. Shri G. Karunakara Reddy ∗ 27. Shri M. Rajamohan Reddy 28. Shri Baju Ban Riyan 29. Choudhary Bijendra Singh 30. Shri Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh 31. Shri Mohan Singh II. Subjects selected for examination 5 7.3.0 The Committee on Home Affairs had the following subjects for examination during the year:- Sl. Ministry/Department Subject No. 1. Ministry of Home Affairs Administration of Union Territories 2. Ministry of Home Affairs/ Ministry of Internal Security and Economic and DoNER Infrastructural Development in NER. 7.4.0 In addition to the above subjects, Hon’ble Chairman, Rajya Sabha also referred the following Bills to the Committee for examination:- Sl. Date of reference Name of the Bill No. http://10.21.217.2/committeessum/2006/chapter_7_8.htm 10/3/2008 CHAPTER-VII Page 3 of 110 1. 03.08.2006 The Sashastra Seema Bal Bill, 2006 2. 22.12.2006 The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2006 7.4.1 Besides, the Committee had also inherited the Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2005 and the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005 from its predecessor. III. Constitution of Sub-Committees of the Committee on Home Affairs 7.5 During 2006, no sub-Committee was constituted. IV. Review of work done (a) Sittings of the Committee 7.6 Statement showing the dates of sittings of the Committee held during the period under review, the duration of the sittings, the number of Members present and the subjects discussed are given in Annexure VII. 7.7 The Committee had not interacted with any foreign delegation during the period under review. (b) Sitting of Sub-Committees 7.8 During the period under review no sittings of Sub-Committees were held, as no Sub-Committees were constituted. (c) Material and Memoranda furnished to the Committee 7.9 Voluminous notes/documents were received from the concerned Ministries/Departments on the subjects/Bills and examined by the Committee. 7.10 A large number of memoranda were received from the non-officials on different subjects/Bills examined by the Committee. Those Memoranda were sent to the concerned Ministries for their comments. (d) Study Visits 7.11 The Committee had undertaken a study visit to Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya from 1 to 7 February 2006 to assess the Internal Security and Economic and Infrastructural Development in North-Eastern Region. 7.12 The Committee did not constitute study groups to make on-the-spot study of local offices, institutions, projects etc. during the period reported upon. (e) Evidences Taken 7.13 Eighteen (18) evidences were taken during the period under review and verbatim record of each of the sittings were kept. V. Reports Presented (a) Reports 7.14 During 2006, the Committee presented/laid the following Reports to the Council/House:— Sl. Report No. and Dates of Subject No. Presentation/Laying Rajya Sabha Lok Sabha 118 The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 1. 09.03.2006 09.03.2006 2005. 119 Demands for Grants (2006-2007) of Ministry of 2. 19.05.2006 19.05.2006 Home Affairs. 120 Demands for Grants (2006-2007) of Ministry of 3. 19.05.2006 19.05.2006 DoNER Examination of Administration of Union Territories http://10.21.217.2/committeessum/2006/chapter_7_8.htm 10/3/2008 CHAPTER-VII Page 4 of 110 121 (Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Pondicherry & 4. 02.08.2006 02.08.2006 Chandigarh). 122 The Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and 5. 13.12.2006 13.12.2006 Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005. (b) Action Taken Reports 7.15 The Committee did not present any Action Taken Report on the Action Taken by the Government on the Recommendations contained in its Reports. (c) Analysis of action taken by Government on the recommendations of the Committee in its earlier Reports: No action in view of the fact stated in 7.15 above. 7.16 Minutes of sittings of the Committee on Home Affairs relating to all the Reports were presented/laid to the Council/House along with the relevant Reports. VI. Summary of Recommendations (a) 118th Report (The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Bill, 2005) 7.17 The Committee recommended that in the proposed amendment, the words “Chief Justice of the Supreme Court” may be substituted by the words “Chief Justice of India”. 7.18 The Committee was of the view that an express provision needed to be incorporated in the amendment to clear the apprehensions and doubts that the Chairperson may tend to misuse the power in making excessive delegation. The Committee, therefore, recommended that in sub-section (4) of Section 3 of the Principal Act, the words “except judicial functions” may be added after the words “such powers and discharge such functions of the Commission”. 7.19 The Committee recommended that the amendment proposed in sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the principal Act may be dropped in the light of the deliberations held on this issue. 7.20 The Committee was of the view that the State Governments while so opting for the Chairperson and/ or Member (s), may tend to by-pass the Selection Committee. The Committee, therefore, recommended that the following proviso may be added after the proposed amendment i.e., insertion of a new sub-section (6) : “Provided that every appointment made under this sub-section shall be made after obtaining the recommendation of the Committee referred to in sub-section (1) of Section 22 in respect of the State for which common Chairperson or Member or both, as the case may be, is proposed to be appointed.” 7.21 The Committee while reiterating its observation made in respect of the proposed amendment to sub-section (2) of Section 4 of the principal Act, recommended that the amendment proposed to sub-section (2) of Section 22 of the principal Act may be dropped. 7.22 Clause I, the Enacting Formula and the Title were adopted with some changes which were of consequential or drafting in nature, namely substitution of the calendar and republic years, “2005” and Fifty-sixth” by “2006” and “Fifty- seventh”, respectively. (b) 119th Report {The Demands for Grants (2006-2007) of the Ministry of Home Affairs} Revamping of Civil Defence 7.23 Civil Defence is an important and integral part of the defence of the country. Particularly during times of war Civil Defence Organisation has a vital role in guarding and protecting the people and supporting civil administration. The Committee had appreciated that NDMA proposed to have relook at the scheme of Revamping of Civil Defence and integrate it into the National Disaster Management. The Committee agreed that civil defence is the right organisation to be involved in Disaster Management.