About:
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- It is one of the major financial committees which uphold financial accountability of the executive.
- It was set up first in 1921 under the provisions of Government of India Act of 1919
- 22 members– 15(Lok Sabha) and 7(Rajya Sabha)
- Chairman from opposition party as a healthy convention.
Role:
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- Scrutinizes the audit reports of CAG.
- It controls the public purse
- It works as the conscience keeper of the government.
- Regarded as the “mother of all parliamentary committees”.
Achievements:
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- According to PRS, average 45% of the recommendations are accepted and, in some cases, it is even 90%.
- It recommended for Separation of accounts from audit 1976
- Its report on the Commonwealth Games in 2010, resulted in exposure of corruption and misuse of public money.
- Public Accounts Committees Conference 2015 has already recommended for the CAG audit of PPP.
Limitations:
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- Its work is post-mortem in nature.
- It is only a recommendary body.
- Politicization of committee like in 2G scam and reduction in the number of sittings.
- No jurisdiction on PPP.
Way forward:
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- Long tenure of members as against present one year
- Should be empowered to hire expert members and professionals on technical matters
- Should have its own secretariat like US and UK (The first three points are by NCRWC)
- Performance metrics for its recommendations and action taken report by the executive (PRS).
