UPPSC 2022 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 22 of 150

Correct — C, Public Accounts Committee. The chain is fixed by the Constitution. Under Article 151 the Comptroller and Auditor General submits his reports on the accounts of the Union to the President, who causes them to be laid before each House of Parliament. Laying the report is where the CAG's job ends and Parliament's begins — the CAG can audit and report, but he cannot summon, question or recommend action. That work is done by the Public Accounts Committee, which takes up the CAG's audit reports along with the Appropriation Accounts and the Finance Accounts, calls the secretaries of the ministries concerned before it, and reports its findings back to the House. This is the PAC's defining function; the Committee is often described as the twin of the CAG, because neither is much use without the other.

• (a)Public Undertaking Committee — The Committee on Public Undertakings is real and it does read CAG material, but only the narrow slice of it that relates to public sector undertakings — their accounts, autonomy and efficiency. The CAG's audit report on the accounts of the Union as a whole, which is what the question asks about, goes to the Public Accounts Committee. COPU was in fact carved out in 1964 to take that specialised load off the PAC.
• (b)The Estimates Committee — The Estimates Committee looks forward, not back. It examines the Budget estimates to suggest economies and better organisation — it has been called a 'continuous economy committee' — and it has no role in examining audit reports of money already spent. It is also the only one of the three financial committees drawn entirely from the Lok Sabha, and with 30 members it is the largest committee of Parliament.
• (d)None of the above — One of the three named committees is exactly right, so this cannot be. 'None of the above' is worth choosing only when you can positively rule out every option; here the Public Accounts Committee's whole reason for existing is to examine the CAG's reports.

India's financial control over the executive works in three stages: Parliament votes the money, the government spends it, and the Comptroller and Auditor General audits the spending afterwards. The audit is useless unless someone acts on it, so Parliament routes the CAG's reports to its financial committees. There are three of them — the Public Accounts Committee, the Estimates Committee and the Committee on Public Undertakings — and they divide the work by stage and by sector: the Estimates Committee scrutinises proposed spending, the PAC scrutinises past spending against the CAG's audit, and COPU does the same for public sector undertakings.

The reasoning shortcut is to ask what each committee is looking at in time. An audit report is by definition about money already spent, which immediately rules out the Estimates Committee, whose subject is money not yet spent. That leaves the PAC and COPU, and the tie-breaker is scope: COPU is confined to public undertakings, the PAC is not. Candidates most often slip on option (b) because 'Estimates' sounds financial and important, and on option (a) because COPU genuinely does examine some CAG reports.

• Article 151 of the Constitution: CAG's reports on Union accounts go to the President, who lays them before each House of Parliament
• Public Accounts Committee: 22 members — 15 elected by the Lok Sabha and not more than 7 by the Rajya Sabha; a minister cannot be a member
• Members are elected annually by proportional representation through the single transferable vote; the Chairperson is appointed by the Speaker, and by convention since 1967 comes from the Opposition
• The PAC dates from 1921, created under the Government of India Act, 1919 — it is older than the Constitution
• Estimates Committee: 30 members, all from the Lok Sabha — the largest parliamentary committee; Committee on Public Undertakings: 22 members (15 Lok Sabha + 7 Rajya Sabha)

• Confusing the Public Account of India (a fund) with the Public Accounts Committee (a committee) — the names are close, the things are not
• Assuming the PAC is a Lok Sabha body only; it has Rajya Sabha members too, unlike the Estimates Committee
• Reading '15 members' as the Rajya Sabha share of the PAC — 15 is the Lok Sabha share, and the Rajya Sabha sends not more than 7

UPPSC has asked this area almost every other year and usually as plain recall — which committee scrutinises the CAG's report, which is the largest committee, which are the financial committees. UPSC prefers statement sets that test the numbers and the limits of the CAG's power, for instance that the CAG has no judicial power and exercises no exchequer control.

• 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 laid before each House of Parliament?

  • (a)Article 148
  • (b)Article 149
  • (c)Article 151
  • (d)Article 280

  Answer(c) Article 151 — the CAG submits the reports to the President, who causes them to be laid before each House; Article 148 deals with the CAG's appointment and independence.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Consider the following statements about the Public Accounts Committee: 1. It has a maximum strength of 22 members. 2. A Union Minister may be elected to it. 3. Its Chairperson is appointed by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Which of the statements given above are correct?

  • (a)1 and 2 only
  • (b)1 and 3 only
  • (c)2 and 3 only
  • (d)1, 2 and 3

  Answer(b) 1 and 3 only — the PAC has 22 members (15 Lok Sabha + not more than 7 Rajya Sabha) and its Chairperson is appointed by the Speaker, but a minister cannot be a member.