Committees of the Constituent Assembly

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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 and 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.