Committees of the Constituent Assembly
Committees of the Constituent Assembly| Major Committees, Minor Committees, Drafting Committee
Introduction:
The Constituent Assembly appointed a number of committees to deal with different tasks of constitution-making. Out of these, eight were major committees and the others were minor committees.
The names of these committees and their chairmen are given below:
Major Committees:
1. Union Powers Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
2. Union Constitution Committee – Jawaharlal Nehru
3. Provincial Constitution Committee – Sardar Patel
4. Drafting Committee – Dr. B.R. Ambedkar
5. Advisory Committee on Fundamental Rights, Minorities and Tribal and Excluded Areas Sardar Patel. This committee had the following sub-committes:
(a) Fundamental Rights Sub-Committee – J.B. Kripalani
(b) Minorities Sub-Committee – H.C. Mukherjee
(c) North-East Frontier Tribal Areas and Assam Excluded & Partially Excluded Areas Sub-Committee – Gopinath Bardoloi
(d) Excluded and Partially Excluded Areas (Other than those in Assam) Sub-Committee –A.V. Thakkar.
6. Rules of Procedure Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
7. States Committee (Committee for Negotiating with States) – Jawaharlal Nehru
8. Steering Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
Minor Committees:
1. Committee on the Functions of the Constituent Assembly – G.V. Mavalankar
2. Order of Business Committee – Dr. K.M. Munshi
3. House Committee – B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya
4. Ad-hoc Committee on the National Flag – Dr. Rajendra Prasad
5. Special Committee to Examine the Draft Constitution – Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
6. Credentials Committee – Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
7. Finance and Staff Committee – Dr. Rajendra Prasad.
8. Hindi Translation Committee
9. Urdu Translation Committee
10. Press Gallery Committee
11. Committee to Examine the Effect of Indian Independence Act of 1947
12. Committee on Chief Commissioners’ Provinces – B. Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
13. Commission on Linguistic Provinces
14. Expert Committee on Financial Provisions
15. Ad-hoc Committee on the Supreme Court – S. Varadachariar.
Drafting Committee:
Among all the committees of the Constituent Assembly, the most important committee was the Drafting Committee set up on August 29, 1947. It was this committee that was entrusted with the task of preparing a draft of the new Constitution. It consisted of seven members.
They were:
1. Dr B R Ambedkar (Chairman)
2. N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar
3. Alladi Krishnaswamy Ayyar
4. Dr K M Munshi
5. Syed Mohammad Saadullah
6. N Madhava Rau (He replaced B L Mitter who resigned due to ill-health)
7. T T Krishnamachari (He replaced D P Khaitan who died in 1948)
The Drafting Committee, after taking into consideration the proposals of the various committees, prepared the first draft of the Constitution of India, which was published in February 1948. The people of India were given eight months to discuss the draft and propose amendments. In the light of the public comments, criticisms an suggestions, the Drafting Committee prepared a second draft, which was published in October 1948. The Drafting Committee took less than six months to prepare its draft. In all it sat only for 141 days.