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While replying to questions in the parliament, or during discussions on bills, resolutions, and motions in the parliament, the ministers often use the expressions: ‘The matter is under consideration, ‘Enquiries are being made', ‘I assure the house all suggestions by Honorable Member will be carefully considered’ etc. Such expressions said in parliament by ministers are considered a form of assurance by Lok Sabha secretariat and the ministers are accountable to fulfil them in a time-bound manner.

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Lok Sabha Secretariat mark such expressions of ministers. These assurances are later reconciled and sent to the concerned ministries, which are given a time of three months to implement the assurance, from the day the assurance was given in parliament. The assurances do not lapse either on the dissolution or the expiry of the term of Lok Sabha and are pursued by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Lok Sabha Secretariat until brought to a logical end.

The reports of assurance implementation by ministries are sent to the Ministry of Parliamentary affairs. A statement regarding the implementation of assurance is laid on the table of Lok Sabha, which is then examined by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.

The 'unsatisfactory' reports from them are sent to and are examined by ‘Parliamentary Committee on Assurances’. The Committee on the basis of proceedings of evidence and material furnished by the concerned ministry prepares the report and sends it to the Chairman of Lok Sabha for approval. If the Committee agrees that it is not possible for the ministry to implement the assurance, the committee may recommend dropping it.

 Parliamentary Committee on Assurances was formulated in the year 1953. The strength of the Committee was increased from six to fifteen in the following year 1954. The Committee has seen a total of 23 sittings and has presented a total of 190 reports till the 15^th Lok Sabha, which concluded in 2014.  

According to the available data of Committee on assurance – no assurances have been fulfilled for the year 2017, there were a total of 71 assurances to be fulfilled for the year. The highest unfulfilled assurances were from Railways and Highways. These were also the ministries to give the highest no assurances during the year.