Enforcement Officer / Accounts Officer (EO/AO) 2020 recruitment test, advertisement 421. Transcribed from the Commission's own booklet (series A, NMJX-U-GTA); answer as per the official UPSC final answer key. This question is in Part B. Answer last reviewed 24 August 2026.

Which one of the following is the mandate of the Committee on Estimates ?

(a)It reports on what economies, improvements in organization, efficiency or administrative reform consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected.
(b)It scrutinizes appropriation and finance accounts of the Government.
(c)It examines reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and whether public undertakings are run efficiently.
(d)It examines bills on matters of general public interest.

Answer

Why

Correct — A, (a) It reports on what economies, improvements in organization, efficiency or administrative reform consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected.

This option reproduces the first of the functions assigned to the Committee on Estimates by Rule 310 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, which directs it ‘to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates may be effected’.

The rule also gives it three further functions: to suggest alternative policies for bringing about efficiency and economy in administration; to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.

Read those four together and the character of the Committee comes clear. It looks at the government’s spending ESTIMATES — the demands for grants — and asks whether the same policy could be carried out more cheaply, more efficiently or with a better-organised administration. It is often described as a continuous economy committee for that reason. Note the qualification that runs through the rule and through the option: ‘consistent with the policy underlying the estimates’. The Committee may criticise the execution of a policy in any way it likes; it may not question the policy itself, because policy has been settled by Parliament.

On composition, the Committee has thirty members, all of them from the Lok Sabha, elected each year from among its members by proportional representation through the single transferable vote. There are no Rajya Sabha members on it — the only one of the three financial committees of which that is true. The chairman is appointed by the Speaker, and a member who becomes a minister ceases to belong to it. It was constituted in 1950.

Why the others are wrong

(b)It scrutinizes appropriation and finance accounts of the Government. — This describes the PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE, not the Committee on Estimates. The Public Accounts Committee examines the accounts showing the appropriation of the sums granted by the House for the expenditure of the Government of India, the annual finance accounts, and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on them, satisfying itself that the money voted was spent for the purpose for which it was voted and within the amount granted. The difference between the two committees is a difference of TIME: the Estimates Committee looks at money proposed to be spent, and the Public Accounts Committee at money already spent. That is why the Public Accounts Committee works on the audit report and the Estimates Committee on the demands for grants. The Public Accounts Committee has twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha.
(c)It examines reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and whether public undertakings are run efficiently. — This describes the COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC UNDERTAKINGS, whose functions under Rule 312A are to examine the reports and accounts of the public undertakings listed in the Fourth Schedule, to examine the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General on those undertakings, and to examine, in the context of their autonomy and efficiency, whether their affairs are being managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices. It was set up in 1964 and has twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha. The option is the closest of the three wrong answers in tone, because both committees are concerned with efficiency; what separates them is the subject matter. The Committee on Public Undertakings looks at the working of named public sector enterprises, and the Estimates Committee at the spending estimates of government departments.
(d)It examines bills on matters of general public interest. — This describes no financial committee at all. Scrutiny of the content of legislation is not among the functions of the Committee on Estimates, the Public Accounts Committee or the Committee on Public Undertakings — all three are concerned with money, not with Bills. A Bill is examined by a Select Committee of one House, or by a Joint Committee of both, or by the department-related standing committee that covers the ministry concerned, when the Bill is referred to such a committee. The option earns its place on the list by being general enough to sound like something a parliamentary committee might do, and a candidate who has not fixed the distinct mandates of the three financial committees may accept it on that basis alone.

Concept

Parliamentary committees fall into two classes. STANDING committees are permanent and are reconstituted from time to time; AD HOC committees are created for a particular task and dissolve when it is done. Among the standing committees, three are the financial committees, and the question is built on the boundary between them.

The COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES — thirty members, all from the Lok Sabha, elected annually by proportional representation through the single transferable vote; chairman appointed by the Speaker; ministers ineligible; constituted in 1950. Its functions under Rule 310 are to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected; to suggest alternative policies for efficiency and economy; to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates; and to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament. It works on money PROPOSED to be spent.

The PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE — twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha, elected annually the same way. It examines the appropriation accounts and the annual finance accounts of the Government of India together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and satisfies itself that money was spent for the purpose voted and within the amount granted. It works on money ALREADY spent. By convention since 1967 its chairman is a member of the opposition.

The COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC UNDERTAKINGS — twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha, set up in 1964, working under Rule 312A. It examines the reports and accounts of the public undertakings in the Fourth Schedule, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports on them, and whether their affairs are managed on sound business principles and prudent commercial practices.

Two further points are worth carrying. First, the recommendations of all three are ADVISORY: they are not binding on the government, and their force comes from publicity and from the convention that departments answer them. Second, none of the three may question policy laid down by Parliament — their business is execution, economy and accountability, not the merits of a decision the House has already taken.

Beside the financial committees stand the twenty-four department-related standing committees, which examine the demands for grants, Bills and the annual reports of the ministries assigned to them, and a set of other standing committees dealing with the business of the House itself — Business Advisory, Privileges, Rules, Petitions, Private Members’ Bills and Resolutions, and others.

This item comes from the polity and governance block of Part B, and it is a mandate-matching question: four descriptions of parliamentary work, one of which belongs to the body named in the stem. Questions in this shape are common because the three financial committees are genuinely similar — all elected annually, all working on public money, all reporting to the House — and the differences between them are exactly the sort of thing a candidate can hold approximately and still get wrong.

The way to separate them is by three questions. WHEN does the committee look at the money: before it is spent, which is the Estimates Committee, or after, which is the Public Accounts Committee? WHOSE money: a department’s, or a public sector undertaking’s, which is the Committee on Public Undertakings? And WHICH HOUSE supplies the members: the Estimates Committee is Lok Sabha only, while the other two draw seven members from the Rajya Sabha.

The stem here is worded as ‘the mandate of’, which is a hint worth taking. It is asking for a function set out in the Rules rather than for a general description, and option (a) reads like a rule — a long clause, a qualifying phrase in the middle, the passive ‘may be effected’ at the end. That drafting style is a signal that the option has been lifted from the source text rather than composed by the paper-setter, and on mandate questions the lifted option is usually the answer.

Key facts

Rule 310 of the Lok Sabha Rules of Procedure sets out the functions of the Committee on Estimates, the first being to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, consistent with the policy underlying the estimates, may be effected.
Its other functions are to suggest alternative policies for efficiency and economy, to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of the policy implied in the estimates, and to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament.
The Committee on Estimates has thirty members, all from the Lok Sabha, elected annually by proportional representation through the single transferable vote; its chairman is appointed by the Speaker and ministers cannot be members. It was constituted in 1950.
It is the only one of the three financial committees with no Rajya Sabha members.
The Public Accounts Committee examines the appropriation accounts, the annual finance accounts and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General; it has twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha.
The Committee on Public Undertakings works under Rule 312A, was set up in 1964, and has twenty-two members, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha.
The Committee on Public Undertakings examines the reports and accounts of the undertakings in the Fourth Schedule, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports on them, and whether they are managed on sound business principles and prudent commercial practices.
The Estimates Committee looks at money proposed to be spent; the Public Accounts Committee at money already spent.
Recommendations of the financial committees are advisory and not binding on the government.
Bills are examined by a Select Committee, a Joint Committee or the relevant department-related standing committee, not by the financial committees.

Three financial committees, and the boundary the question is built on

Committee on Estimates — option (a)→Rule 310: to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reform, CONSISTENT WITH THE POLICY UNDERLYING THE ESTIMATES, may be effected; to suggest alternative policies for efficiency and economy; to examine whether the money is well laid out within the limits of that policy; and to suggest the form in which the estimates shall be presented to Parliament. It works on money PROPOSED to be spent, and is often called a continuous economy committee.

Public Accounts Committee — option (b)→Examines the accounts showing the appropriation of sums granted by the House, the annual finance accounts, and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General on them, satisfying itself that the money voted was spent for the purpose for which it was voted and within the amount granted. It works on money ALREADY spent.

Committee on Public Undertakings — option (c)→Rule 312A. Examines the reports and accounts of the public undertakings listed in the Fourth Schedule, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports on them, and whether their affairs are managed in accordance with sound business principles and prudent commercial practices. Set up in 1964.

Option (d) describes no financial committee at all→Scrutiny of the content of legislation belongs to a Select Committee of one House, a Joint Committee of both, or the department-related standing committee covering the subject. All three financial committees are concerned with money, not with Bills.

Composition — where Estimates is unique→Estimates: thirty members, ALL from the Lok Sabha, and the only one of the three financial committees with no Rajya Sabha members; constituted in 1950. Public Accounts and Public Undertakings: twenty-two members each, fifteen from the Lok Sabha and seven from the Rajya Sabha. All are elected annually by proportional representation through the single transferable vote, and a member who becomes a minister ceases to belong.

The limit written into the rule→‘Consistent with the policy underlying the estimates’. The Committee may criticise the execution of a policy in any way it likes; it may not question the policy itself, because policy has been settled by Parliament. Recommendations of all three financial committees are advisory and not binding on the government.

Study next

The three financial committees compared: composition, tenure, chairman and function.Department-related standing committees — their number, their composition and the work they do on demands for grants and Bills.Standing against ad hoc committees, and where the Railway Convention Committee and select committees on Bills fall.The Comptroller and Auditor General: appointment, tenure, independence under Articles 148 to 151, and the audit reports the committees work on.The budget process — demands for grants, appropriation and finance Bills, the cut motions, and the votes on account.Articles 112 to 117 of the Constitution on financial procedure, and the distinction between charged expenditure and voted expenditure.

Common traps

Confusing the Estimates Committee with the Public Accounts Committee. One examines money proposed to be spent, the other money already spent.
Attributing scrutiny of the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports on public sector enterprises to the Estimates Committee. That belongs to the Committee on Public Undertakings.
Assuming the Estimates Committee includes Rajya Sabha members. It has thirty members and all of them are from the Lok Sabha.
Believing the Committee may question the policy behind the estimates. Rule 310 confines it to what is consistent with that policy.
Treating a financial committee as a legislative one. None of the three examines the content of Bills.
Assuming the recommendations are binding on the government. They are advisory.

Parliamentary committees are a standing topic on EPFO EO/AO and other central papers, and they are asked in three shapes: match the committee to its mandate, as here; give the composition of a named committee; or classify a committee as standing or ad hoc. The financial committees supply most of the questions, and the distinguishing details examiners use are always the same handful — number of members, which House, the year of constitution, and whether the committee looks at estimates, at accounts or at undertakings. A single table holding those four columns for the three committees answers almost every item in this family.

Related PYQs

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q36Open & attempt →

Which one of the following facts pertaining to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) is not correct ?

(a) The NGT was set up in the year 2010.
(b) Its purpose is to ensure effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources.
(c) It is bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure.
(d) It is guided by the principles of natural justice.

Answer(c) It is bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure.

The National Green Tribunal item that opens this block, where the answer also depends on reproducing what a rule actually says rather than what sounds plausible about the body.

EPFO_EOAO_2020_Q39Open & attempt →

Which one of the following is the acronym for the word ‘NITI’ in NITI Aayog ?

(a) National Integration and Transformation of India
(b) National Institution for Transforming India
(c) National Institution for Technological India
(d) National Institution for Trust in India

Answer(b) National Institution for Transforming India

The NITI Aayog item from the same block — the other institution question here, and a reminder that these papers test what a body is called and what it is empowered to do rather than its record.

Practice

practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following financial committees of Parliament consists exclusively of members of the Lok Sabha ?
- (a)Public Accounts Committee
- (b)Committee on Estimates
- (c)Committee on Public Undertakings
- (d)All three financial committees
Answer(b) Committee on Estimates — it has thirty members, all from the Lok Sabha. The Public Accounts Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings each have twenty-two members, of whom seven come from the Rajya Sabha.
practice — not a real PYQ
The Public Accounts Committee of Parliament examines which one of the following ?
- (a)The demands for grants before they are voted by the House
- (b)The appropriation accounts and the finance accounts together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
- (c)The form in which the estimates should be presented to Parliament
- (d)Whether public undertakings are managed on sound business principles
Answer(b) The appropriation accounts and the finance accounts together with the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General — it works on money already spent. Options (a) and (c) describe the Committee on Estimates and option (d) the Committee on Public Undertakings.