The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a committee of selected members of Parliament, constituted by the Parliament of India, for the auditing of the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India.
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The PAC is formed every year with a strength of not more than 22 members of which 15 are from Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament, and 7 from Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament. The term of office of the members is one year. The Chairman is appointed by the Speaker of Lok Sabha. Since 1967, the chairman of the committee is selected from the opposition. Earlier, it was headed by a member of the ruling party. Its chief function is to examine the audit report of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after it is laid in the Parliament. CAG assists the committee during the course of investigation. None of the 22 members shall be a minister in the government.
The present PAC is headed by Prof. Kuruppassery Varkey Thomas, Senior Congress MP of Ernakulum Constituency, Kerala. The term of office of members of the committee does not exceed one year at a time.
2G spectrum scam
In 2011, the Public Accounts Committee probed the 2G spectrum scam which brought the committee to public attention. The committee, on 4 April 2011, summoned Ratan Tata, chairman of the Tata group, and Niira Radia, corporate lobbyist regarding the scam. The PAC asked Congress members to apologise to Comptroller and Auditor General of India for making allegations against it.
Demonetization of November 8, 2016
On the eve of November 8, 2016, Prime Minister of Republic of India Shri Narendra Modi announced "Notes of Rs500 and Rs 1000 will not remain a legal tender by midnight". Being an unprecedented step it was much highlighted in the national and international news with a number of people criticizing the move and governmant acclaiming it as a surgical strike against black money.
But public account committee headed by senior Congress leader K V Thomas took a serious note of the move and started probing the move wherein it decided to call RBI Governor Urjit Patel, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das and a decision was taken unanimously by all the members of the committee.
After independence
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52. Prof. Kuruppassery Varkey Thomas 2013-2015