Strengthening of PACs to be discussed in two-day conference

Strengthening of Public Accounts Committees by giving them more "transparency" and "teeth" would be on the agenda of a two-day conference of chairpersons of all PACs of the parliament and state legislatures beginning here on Tuesday.

"This conference is being held in accordance with the practice of holding such a conference once in the lifetime of a Lok Sabha that is five years. However, this time it is being held after a gap of 15 years," parliament's PAC chairperson K.V. Thomas told the media here.

"The conference will deliberate on changes being made in the PAC. We want to give more transparency and teeth to the PAC as it is the watchdog of economic activities," he said.

Thomas said that a sub-group consisting of three prominent members of the PAC of parliament have deliberated on the modalities of the conference and contributed substantially in deciding the programme.

"The conference and the agenda outlined for discussion aims to provide a broad platform to share and learn from our respective experiences and discuss, debate and find solutions to some of our common problems and chart out ways and means to enhance the level of our functioning," he said.