In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?
- 1.Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
- 2.Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
- 3.Finance Commission
- 4.Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
- 5.NITI Aayog
Select the correct answer using the code given below.
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) 1 and 2
Parliament itself reviews the independent regulators, through its committees: ad hoc committees appointed for a specific inquiry, and the Departmentally Related Standing Committees that scrutinise ministries and their work. The Finance Commission, the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission and NITI Aayog have other jobs and do not review regulators.
- ✓ 1. Ad hoc committees are appointed by Parliament from time to time to enquire into specific subjects, and can be set up to examine a regulator's working.
- ✓ 2. Departmentally Related Standing Committees examine the annual reports, Bills and demands for grants of the ministries they cover, and PRS notes that parliamentary committees such as the Standing Committees on Health and on Energy have examined the working of regulators under those ministries.
- ✗ 3. The Finance Commission's constitutional duty is to recommend how tax proceeds are shared between the Union and the States and the principles for grants-in-aid; supervising sectoral regulators is not its task.
- ✗ 4. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission was set up on the Budget 2010-11 announcement to rewrite and harmonise financial-sector law; it was a law-reform commission, not a standing reviewer of regulators.
- ✗ 5. NITI Aayog is the Government's policy think tank, formed by a Cabinet resolution of 1 January 2015 to replace the Planning Commission; it has no oversight role over regulators.
Remember · Independent regulators answer to Parliament through its committees (ad hoc and Departmentally Related Standing Committees), not through the Finance Commission, FSLRC or NITI Aayog.
📘 Read it in NCERT: Class 12 Politics in India since Independence, Ch 3 (practise this chapter)
Sources
- Rajya Sabha: Committees of Rajya Sabha, general information (types of committees) ↗ “Ad hoc Committees are appointed from time to time to enquire into specific subjects.”
- Parliament of India (sansad.in): Rules, Chapter III Parliamentary Committees, functions of Departmentally Related Standing Committees ↗ “to consider annual reports of Ministries/ Departments and make reports thereon”
- PRS Legislative Research, Parliament and the Executive (29 Nov 2016): regulators ↗ · reference work “Parliamentary committees also examine the performance of regulators. For example, the Standing Committee on Health has examined the functioning of regulators such as the Medical Council of India”
- Constitution of India, Article 280(3): duties of the Finance Commission ↗ “It shall be the duty of the Commission to make recommendations to the President as to— (a) the distribution between the Union and the States of the net proceeds of taxes”
- Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2011-12, Ch 5: Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission ↗ “the government set up the FSLRC with a view to rewriting and harmonizing financial- sector legislation, rules, and regulations to address the contemporaneous requirements of the sector.”
- NITI Aayog, Overview (Internet Archive copy, 2018) ↗ “NITI Aayog is the premier policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, providing both directional and policy inputs. … was formed via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015.”
- NCERT Class 12 · Politics in India since Independence, Chapter 3 “The Government of India replaced the Planning Commission with a new institution named NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India).”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2019, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 1 Oct 2026 (how we verify). ·