Public Accounts Committee

The Public account committee is important in the domain of the subject polity. The committee was formed with the aim and objective of auditing the income and expenditures of the government of India. 

The Public Account Committee is also known as the PAC. This committee is established by the parliament of India. The committee acts as a vigilance mechanism on the expenditure bill of the government. It also inspects various audit reports of the “Comptroller and auditor general of India”. 

The committee in the delegation of its work thus serves a lot of important functions. The committee also acts as an invigilator to see if the money is effectively spent by the government as being proposed.  

Public Accounts Committee

The Public Accounts Committee is important in the domain of polity. This committee consists of selected members of parliament. It targets the inspections and meticulous vigilance of government expenditure. This committee also inspects the details of the revenues earned by the government. It ensures that the taxpayer money is effectively utilized in national development. This also ensures that the existing resources are utilized in the broader national interest. 

The PAC or the Public Accounts Committee also checks the report made by the Comptroller and auditor general of India. The Officer in the PAC exercises a wide range of powers in the exercise of their duties assigned to them. 

The committee as reiterated earlier also keeps a close watch on the CAG of India and ensures that it works on the proper line of directions. Various reports of the CAG that the PAC inspects are the audit report on the public undertakings, the audited report of the financial accounts, and the audit report on appropriated accounts. 

However, the PAC also has limitations in its delegation of power. The committee can only serve the vigilance function; it cannot ensure any remedial steps to limit the extent of expenditure incurred. 

The remedies provided by the committee are only advisory and are not obligatory one; as a result, these can be ignored by the ministers of India. The PAC cannot issue orders and the final power only rests on the parliament. The committee also doesn’t have any intervention power in matters of policy. 

Who are the Public Accounts Committee members ?

The Public Account Committee is an old committee that was established during the British period in India. This committee was established in 1921. The committee of public accounts has 22 members, who are the parliamentarians of India. Out of 22 members, 15 members are elected from the Lok Sabha of India and the remaining 7 members are selected from the Rajya Sabha. The speaker has the power to appoint the chairman of the members selected for the post.  

The Public Account Committee also has various types of sub-committees in it. These sub-committees help in the efficient delegation of the duties and help the committees to achieve their ultimate targets. 

The members of the committee of public accounts in India are selected every year by the means of representations in the form of proportions by single transferable votes. The current chairman of the committee is Shri.Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. 

What are the functions of the Public Accounts Committee?

The committee of public accounts exercises a wide range of important functions within the work given. These functions help the committee to ensure proper transparency in the system. The committee examines the various expenditures of the government of India. 

This committee investigates the various reports prepared by the CAG of India. Additionally, the PAC also inspected the legality of the money being spent on various projects and the outcome of such expenditures. PAC also inspects the details of the accounts of the state corporations, various manufacturing and trading schemes of the government. It also inspects various manufacturing projects. The inspection of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies is also done by the PAC. Any kind of overspending is also assessed by the PAC.

Conclusion 

The Public Account Committee (PAC) is an important discussion in the study of the polity. This committee is established by the parliament of India. The foundation of this committee can be traced back to history during the year 1921. The committee has various powers and it exercises various important functions for availing its final objective.  The PAC acts as an efficient and effective vigilance mechanism in observing the expenditure that the government spends in a given period. This also ensures whether the spending is as per plan. The PAC also does various kinds of audits to achieve its target. It brings transparency to the system.