KC Venugopal likely to chair Public Accounts Committee: What is it?

Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal and Amar Singh are part of the committee, which was previously headed by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury

Senior Congress leader KC Venugopal is expected to be the new chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, according to several media reports, as one of the two Congress representatives in the committee. Former Union ministers Anurag Thakur and Ravi Shankar Prasad, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Aparajita Sarangi—the only woman MP from the Lok Sabha on the committee—have also been nominated to the PAC.

What is the Public Accounts Committee?

The Public Accounts Committee, or PAC, is one of the three financial standing committees of the Parliament of India.

The PAC's main task is to ensure that the government has spent the funds granted by Parliament within the approved scope of demand. The committee examines the audit report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) after it is laid in Parliament, with the C&AG assisting during investigations.

 

Public Accounts Committee members

The PAC was first conceived in 1921 and consists of 22 members. This includes 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and seven by the Rajya Sabha.

Members are elected annually from their respective houses using proportional representation by means of a single transferable vote. The chairperson is appointed by the Lok Sabha speaker, and the term of office for members is one year.

In the 18th Lok Sabha, the Congress party, being the largest Opposition party, has the responsibility of heading the PAC. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been the PAC chairperson since July 2019, following Mallikarjun Kharge.

Who else is on the Public Accounts Committee?

Other significant Opposition members include Amar Singh from the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) floor leader TR Baalu, and Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav. Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Sougata Roy also joined the committee.

Meanwhile, representing the BJP, MPs Jagdambika Pal, CM Ramesh, Trivendra Singh Rawat, and Tejaswi Surya will serve on the committee, along with Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Magunta Sreenivaslu Reddy and Jan Sena MP Vallabhaneni Balashowry.

The committee, responsible for auditing the revenue and expenditure of the Government of India, comprises 15 members from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha.