What is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC)?

About Public Accounts Committee (PAC):

• It is a committee of selected members of parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, to audit the revenue and expenditure of the Government of India.
• It serves as a check on the government, especially for its expenditure bill and its primary function is to examine the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) after it is laid in Parliament.
• C&AG assists the committee during the course of the investigation.
• The main function of the committee is to ascertain whether the money granted by parliament has been spent by the government within the scope of the demand.
• Genesis of the Committee:
  • It is one of the oldest Parliamentary Committees in India.
  • From its inception in the year 1921 till early 1950, the Finance Member was appointed as the Chairperson of the Committee and its secretarial functions were looked after by the Finance Department (later Ministry of Finance).
  • With the coming into force of the Constitution of India on 26 January 1950, the Committee became a Parliamentary Committee under the control of the Speaker.
  • Its secretarial functions were transferred to the Parliament Secretariat (now Lok Sabha Secretariat).
• Membership:
  • PAC consists of not more than twenty-two members, fifteen elected by Lok Sabha, and not more than seven members of Rajya Sabha.
  • The members are elected every year from amongst the members of respective houses according to the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
  • The term of office of the members is one year.
  • The Chairperson of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker from amongst the members of the Committee from Lok Sabha.
  • The Speaker, for the first time, appointed a Member of the Opposition as the Chairperson of the Committee for 1967-68. This practice has been continuing since then.
  • A Minister is not elected a member of the Committee and if a member, after his election to the Committee, is appointed a Minister, he ceases to be a member of the Committee from the date of such appointment.
• Functions:
  • The functions of the Committee include examination of accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by Parliament for the expenditure of the Government of India, the annual finance accounts of the Government and such other accounts laid before the House as the Committee may think fit.
  • In scrutinising the appropriation accounts of the Government of India and the report of the C&AG thereon, the Committee has to satisfy:
    • that the money shown in the accounts as having been disbursed was legally available for, and applicable to, the service or purpose to which they have been applied or charged;
    • that the expenditure conforms to the authority which governs it; and
    • that every re-appropriation has been made in accordance with the provisions made on this behalf under rules framed by the competent authority.
  • The functions of the Committee extend, however, “beyond, the formality of expenditure to its wisdom, faithfulness and economy”.
    • The Committee thus examines cases involving losses, nugatory expenditures, and financial irregularities.