• Amid a political storm over allegations of conflict of interest against SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has decided to review the performance of regulatory bodies established by Acts of Parliament.
• Madhabi Buch is facing allegations of conflict of interest over the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) investigation into the Hindenburg Research claims against the Adani Group.
• The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman K.C. Venugopal said the Committee will take a decision on summoning Buch for examination of allegations against her.
• The PAC has selected 161 subjects for examination during its tenure, in addition to the pending matters before the Committee from previous year.
• Among the suo-moto subjects selected by the Committee are performance review of regulatory bodies established by Acts of Parliament, reforms in banking and insurance sector, review of implementation of centrally sponsored welfare schemes, policy measures underway for transition in the energy sector and levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges on public infrastructure and other public utilities.
What is the role of Public Accounts Committee?
The Public Accounts Committee is one of the three financial committees of selected Members of Parliament.
The other two are Estimates Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings (CoPU).
Key points on Public Accounts Committee:
• The Committee is one of the oldest Parliamentary Committees in India. From its inception in the year 1921 till early 1950, the Finance Member of the Executive Council was appointed as the chairperson of the Committee and its Secretarial functions were looked after by the Finance Department. With the coming into force of the Constitution of India on January 26, 1950, the Committee became a Parliamentary Committee under the control of the Speaker.
• The Public Accounts Committee is constituted by Parliament each year for the purpose of auditing the revenue and the expenditure of the government of India. They check that Parliament exercises over the executive stems from the basic principle that Parliament embodies the will of the people. It serves as a check on the government especially with respect to its expenditure bill and its primary function is to examine the audit report of Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) after it is laid in Parliament.
• The Committee consists of not more than 22 members, comprising 15 members elected by Lok Sabha every year from amongst its members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and not more than seven members of Rajya Sabha elected by that House in like manner are associated with the Committee.
• The chairperson is appointed by the Speaker from amongst its members of 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 eligible to be elected as a member of the Committee. If a member, after her or his election to the Committee is appointed a minister, she or he ceases to be a member of the Committee from the date of such appointment.
• One of the duties of the Committee is to ascertain that money granted by Parliament has been spent by the government within the scope of the demand. It considers the justification for spending more or less than the amount originally sanctioned.
