UKPSC Prelims 2024 General Studies Paper-I · Question 29 of 147

Correct — A, To examine CAG annual reports.

The Comptroller and Auditor General audits the Union's accounts, and his reports are submitted to the President, who lays them before Parliament under Article 151. The Public Accounts Committee then examines those reports on Parliament's behalf — the work To examine CAG annual reports describes.

In doing so it checks that the money Parliament voted was spent legally, for the purpose granted and within the sanctioned authority, and it examines the appropriation accounts and the finance accounts of the Government of India (Rules 308 and 309 of the Lok Sabha Rules of Procedure).

The idea to carry away: the CAG audits, the PAC examines the audit for Parliament. The committee works after the money is spent, reports to the House and recommends; it does not administer and it does not issue orders.

• (b)
  To interfere in day-to-day activities of government — The PAC is a post-audit body. It looks at expenditure after it has happened, through the CAG's reports and the evidence of ministry officers, and it stays out of the running of the administration.

  Day-to-day administration belongs to the Council of Ministers and the departments under them; a committee of Parliament examines and reports, it does not administer.

• (c)
  To give recommendations to the Prime Minister — The PAC's reports are presented to the Lok Sabha by its Chairman, and the ministries concerned send action-taken notes back to the committee. Its line of accountability runs to the House, not to the head of the executive.

  Advising the Prime Minister is the work of executive advisory bodies such as the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, not of a financial committee of Parliament.

• (d)
  To pass orders — The committee's findings are recommendations. The government replies with action-taken notes and the committee may follow up, but it has no power to enforce; the weight its reports carry comes from the House and from public scrutiny.

  Passing binding orders is what a court or an executive authority does; a financial committee of Parliament scrutinises and recommends.

Parliament controls public money at two points: before spending, by voting the demands for grants and passing the Appropriation Act, and after spending, by checking that the money went where it was voted. The Public Accounts Committee is the after-spending check.

It works from the audit reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General, questions the officers of the ministries concerned and reports its findings to the House. The CAG is called the committee's friend, philosopher and guide because his audit is the raw material of the PAC's work.

• The PAC was set up in 1921 under the Government of India Act, 1919, and is the oldest of the three financial committees.
• Under Article 151, the CAG's reports on the Union's accounts go to the President, who has them laid before each House of Parliament.
• The Lok Sabha Rules under which the PAC is constituted (Rules 308 and 309) also charge it with examining the appropriation accounts, the finance accounts and the CAG's reports on them.
• The committee has 22 members: 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha, chosen by proportional representation with the single transferable vote.
• Members serve a one-year term, and a Minister cannot be elected to the committee.
• The Speaker appoints the Chairman from among the members; since 1967 the Chairman has by convention come from the Opposition.
• The PAC also examines the CAG's reports on autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, and the accounts of state corporations not allotted to the Committee on Public Undertakings.
• Its recommendations are advisory; ministries answer them with action-taken notes, and the committee reports to the Lok Sabha.
• The Estimates Committee has 30 members, drawn from the Lok Sabha alone; the Committee on Public Undertakings has 15 from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha.

• Reading 'examine CAG reports' as the CAG's own job. The CAG audits and writes the report; the PAC examines that report for Parliament, so option (a) names the committee's work, not the auditor's.
• Expecting a 'main function' to carry executive force. The PAC scrutinises and recommends; it cannot administer, order or punish, which is why (b) and (d) describe powers it does not have.
• Attaching the committee to the executive. Its reports go to the Lok Sabha and the government answers through action-taken notes; (c) puts the PAC on the wrong side of the accountability line.
• Mixing up the three financial committees: estimates and economy belong to the Estimates Committee, public enterprises to the Committee on Public Undertakings, audited accounts to the PAC.
• In composition questions, check the 15 + 7 split and the one-year term against the statement; the Rajya Sabha share is 7, not 15, and the term is one year, not two.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is often described as the 'friend, philosopher and guide' of which parliamentary committee?

  • (a)Estimates Committee
  • (b)Public Accounts Committee
  • (c)Committee on Public Undertakings
  • (d)Business Advisory Committee
  Answerb — The PAC works from the CAG's audit reports and takes his assistance throughout its examination, which is why the phrase attaches to it.

  The Estimates Committee (a) examines estimates and economy without an audit base; the Committee on Public Undertakings (c) reads the CAG's reports on public enterprises, but the label belongs to the committee built around the audit itself; the Business Advisory Committee (d) allocates the time of the House and is unrelated to audit.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament: 1. It has 15 members from the Lok Sabha and 7 from the Rajya Sabha. 2. A Minister cannot be elected as its member. 3. Its recommendations are binding on the Government. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)2 and 3 only
  • (c)1 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3
  Answera — Statements 1 and 2 restate the Lok Sabha Rules under which the Committee is constituted (Rules 308 and 309): 15 members elected by the Lok Sabha, not more than 7 from the Rajya Sabha, and a Minister barred from being elected to it.

  Statement 3 is wrong because the committee's reports are recommendations, answered by action-taken notes rather than obeyed as orders; so (b), (c) and (d), each of which includes statement 3, fail.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under which Article of the Constitution are the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General relating to the accounts of the Union submitted to the President, to be laid before each House of Parliament?

  • (a)Article 148
  • (b)Article 149
  • (c)Article 150
  • (d)Article 151
  Answerd — Article 151 is the audit-reports article: Union reports go to the President and state reports to the Governor, for laying before the legislature concerned.

  Article 148 (a) deals with the CAG's appointment and conditions of service, Article 149 (b) with his duties and powers, and Article 150 (c) with the form of the accounts of the Union and the States.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following parliamentary committees consists of members drawn from the Lok Sabha alone?

  • (a)Public Accounts Committee
  • (b)Committee on Public Undertakings
  • (c)Estimates Committee
  • (d)Joint Committee on Offices of Profit
  Answerc — The Estimates Committee's 30 members are elected by the Lok Sabha; the Rajya Sabha is not represented on it.

  The PAC (a) and the Committee on Public Undertakings (b) each associate 7 Rajya Sabha members with 15 from the Lok Sabha, and the Joint Committee on Offices of Profit (d) is joint by name, with 10 members from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha.