Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted six new Parliamentary Committees, including the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which keeps a close eye on government expenditure, to be headed by senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal.
Two other financial committees — the Estimates Committee and the Public Undertakings Committee — will be chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
Sanjay Jaiswal was appointed Chairperson of the Committee on Estimates, and Baijayant Panda made Chairperson of the Committee on Public Undertakings.
About Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
The PAC, one of the three key financial committees tasked with keeping a watch on the government’s accounts, is usually headed by a senior Lok Sabha member of the principal Opposition party.
None of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) members are allowed to be ministers in the government.
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.
The Public Accounts Committee consists of not more than twenty-two members, fifteen elected by Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, and not more than seven members of Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament.
The members are elected every year from amongst its members of respective houses according to the principle of proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote.
The chairperson is appointed by the Lok Sabha speaker. The term of office of the members is one year.
