Committee on Estimates

Head

n/a

Role

Chairman

Annual budget

n/a

Staff

n/a

Established

1973

Legal basis

Article 76 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh (empowering the Sangsad to appoint standing committees); Rules of Procedure of the Jatiya Sangsad (Part relating to financial committees, Rules 235-237: Rule 235 — Functions of the Committee on Estimates; Rule 236 — Constitution of the Committee; Rule 237 — Examination of Estimates by Committee). Ministers are excluded from membership by convention and rules.

The committee faces historical ambiguity regarding its role and jurisdiction, with current efforts focused on enhancing member capacity for systemic financial scrutiny.

The Committee on Estimates is one of three financial oversight committees of the Jatiya Sangsad (alongside the Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings). It is constituted under Rules 235-237 of the Rules of Procedure and derives its authority from Article 76 of the Constitution. Its mandate is prospective (examining estimates before and during expenditure) as opposed to the PAC's retrospective audit function. Under the Rules of Procedure, ministers are excluded from membership; the chairman is elected from among the members, who are backbench MPs. The established_year of 1973 reflects the first parliament's institution of financial committees following Bangladesh's independence; the committee has existed in every parliamentary session. Current_head is null because no specific chairman for the 13th Jatiya Sangsad's Committee on Estimates has been publicly reported as of the verification date (17 May 2026); the first session was prorogued on 30 April 2026 without public announcement of all committee chairmen. Verification_status is 'partial' because the chairman/membership cannot be confirmed from available sources. The parliament.gov.bd URL for the members page (ID 114) exists but the site was inaccessible during verification. The FY2025-26 budget (Tk 7.90 lakh crore, or Tk 7,900,000,000,000) was originally passed as an ordinance on 22 June 2025 by the Yunus-led interim government and converted to law by the elected 13th parliament in April 2026.