The work done by the Parliament in modern
times is not only varied and complex in nature, but also considerable in
volume. The time at its disposal is limited. It cannot, therefore, give close
consideration to all the legislative and other matters that come up before
it. A good deal of its business is, therefore, transacted in Committees of the
House, known as Parliamentary Committees. Parliamentary Committee means a
Committee which is appointed or elected by the House or nominated by the
Speaker and which works under the direction of the Speaker and presents its
report to the House or to the Speaker and the Secretariat for which is
provided by the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
By their nature,
Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds: Standing Committees and Ad hoc
Committees. Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees which are
constituted140 from time to time in pursuance of the
provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct160
of Business in Lok Sabha. The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
The Financial Committees, Departmentally Related Standing Committees and some
other Committees come under the category of Standing Committees. Ad hoc
Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when
they finish the task assigned to them and submit a report. The principal Ad hoc
Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills. Railway Convention
Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex etc.
also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.
In a parliamentary
democracy like ours, the Committee system assumes great importance.
Administrative accountability to the legislature becomes the sine qua non
of such a parliamentary system.280 The check that Parliament
exercises over the executive stems from the basic principle that Parliament
embodies the will of the people and it must, therefore, be able to supervise
the manner in which public policy laid down by Parliament is320
carried out. However, the phenomenal proliferation of governmental
activities has made the task of legislatures very complex and diversified. By
its very nature, Parliament, as a body cannot have an effective control over
the government and the whole gamut of its activities. Administrative
accountability to the legislature through Committees has been the hallmark of
our political system. The Committee on Public Accounts enjoys the place of
pride in our Committee System.
The Committee on
Public Accounts was first set up in 1921 in the wake of the Montague-Chelmsford
Reforms. The Finance Member of the Executive Council used to be the420
Chairman of the Committee. The Secretariat assistance to the Committee was
rendered by the then Finance Department which is now the Ministry of Finance.
This position continued right up to 1949. During the days of the Interim
Government, the then Finance Minister acted as the Chairman of the Committee,
and later on, after the attainment of Independence
in August, 1947, the Finance480 Minister became the Chairman.
This naturally restricted the free expression of views and criticism of the
Executive. The Committee on Public Accounts underwent a radical change with the
coming into force of the Constitution of India on 26 January, 1950 , when the Committee became a
Parliamentary Committee functioning under the control of the Speaker with a
non-official Chairman appointed by the Speaker from among the Members of Lok
Sabha elected to the Committee. The Minister of Finance ceased to be560
a Member of the Committee vide Rule 309(i) of the Rules of Procedure and
Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha.
The Public Accounts
Committee is now constituted every year under Rule 308 of the Rules of
Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. The Public Accounts Committee
consists of not more than 22 members comprising of 15 members elected by Lok
Sabha every year from amongst its members according to the principle of
proportional representation by means of single640
transferable vote and not more than 7 members of Rajya Sabha elected by that
House in like manner. Prior to the year 1954-55, the Committee consisted of 15
members who were elected by Lok Sabha from amongst its Members. But with effect
from the year 1954-55, 7 members from the Rajya Sabha are also being associated
with the Committee.700 Till 1966-67, a senior member of the
ruling party used to be appointed by the Speaker as Chairman of the Committee.
In 1967, however, for the first time, a member from the Opposition in Lok Sabha,
was appointed as the Chairman of the Committee by the Speaker. This practice
continues till date. The term of office of members of the Committee does not
exceed one year at a time. 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 the800 Committee from the date of
such appointment. The Chairman of the Committee is appointed by the Speaker
from amongst the members of the Committee from Lok Sabha.
The functions of
the Committee, as enshrined in Rule 308(1) of the840 Rules of
Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, 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.
The Committee's
work depends a great deal upon the results of audit and examination of the
Accounts of the Union Government carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor
General. The audit by the C&AG is comprehensive and manifold. To cite an
example, it involves among others, Accountancy Audit, Regularity Audit,
Appropriation Audit, Propriety Audit or what is also known as Discretionary
Audit and Efficiency-cum-performance Audit. In recent years, the technique960
of efficiency-cum-performance has been attempted in the audit of developmental
schemes. The Audit examines as how far the implementing980
agency is adequately discharging its financial responsibilities in regard to
the various schemes undertaken by it and ascertains whether the schemes are
being executed effectively and their operations conducted economically and
whether they are producing the results expected of them. In fact, the
Institution of Audit plays a crucial role in the functioning of the Committee
on Public Accounts and the Comptroller and Auditor General is often termed as
"friend, philosopher and guide" of the Committee. At the beginning of
its term every year, the Committee makes a selection of Audit Paragraphs
included in the various reports of C&AG for in-depth examination. After
holding deliberations and taking note of the time available at its disposal,
the Committee selects the most important paragraphs from the Audit Reports for
detailed examination and submits its reports to the House on them.
A report1120
has value provided it is properly followed up. In the case of original report,
the Government is required to intimate to the Committee the action taken or
proposed to be taken by it on the recommendations contained in the Report
normally within six months of the presentation. The Action Taken replies of the
Government are considered by the Committee and after due classification of the
replies, an Action Taken Report is presented to the Parliament. The Government
is further required to intimate to the Committee the action taken or proposed
to be taken by it on the recommendations contained in Chapter I of the Action
Taken Report and also to furnish final replies in respect of the earlier
recommendations contained in the Original Report in respect of which either no
replies had previously been received or only interim replies had1260
been received. The action taken thus reported by the Government is laid on the
Table of the House in the1280 form of a Statement without any
further comments by the Committee. This system not only ensures accountability
of the Executive to Parliament but also enables Parliament and also the general
public to appraise Government's final replies to the Committee's
recommendations. This completes the examination of a subject by the Committee.
Follow-up on Action taken by Government on Audit paragraphs not selected by the
Committee Till 1981, there was no practice of ascertaining the action taken by
the Ministries or Departments on the Audit paragraphs not selected by the
Committee for detailed examination. However, with a view to ensuring
enforcement of accountability of the executive in respect of all the issues
dealt with in various Audit Reports, the Committee on Public1400
Accounts decided in 1982 that the Audit Reports for the year 1980-81 be
referred to the Ministries or Departments concerned for furnishing notes, duly
vetted by Audit, showing remedial or corrective Action Taken on all the
paragraphs contained therein.1440 The system has further been
streamlined to review the remedial or corrective action taken notes furnished
by Government on the non-selected Audit Paragraphs.1502
