Mallikarjun Kharge replaces K V Thomas as PAC chairperson

PAC examines accounts showing appropriation of sums granted by parliament for govt expenditure

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge has been appointed new chairperson of parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), an official release said on Tuesday.

Kharge replaces his party's K V Thomas whose term has ended.

PAC, the oldest committee of parliament and reconstituted each year, examines accounts showing appropriation of sums granted by parliament for expenditure of the government.

It also examines other accounts laid before parliament such as those of autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies and scrutinises various aspects of government's tax administration.

It also examines reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on various subjects as also the official auditor's reports on performance appraisals for various centrally-sponsored schemes.

The release issued by Lok Sabha secretariat said that there is a convention from 1967 to appoint an eminent leader from Opposition as chairperson of the PAC.

Apart from Kharge, the PAC has 14 members from Lok Sabha and seven from Rajya Sabha.

The members of the PAC from the lower house are Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Subhash Chandra Baheria, Prem Singh Chandumajra, Nishikant Dubey, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Riti Pathak, Neiphiu Rio, Abhishek Singh, Ram Shanker, Kirit Somaiya, Anurag Singh Thakur, Shivkumar C Udasi and P. Venugopal.

The Rajya Sabha MPs in the panel are Naresh Agrawal, Satyavrat Chaturvedi, Bhubaneswar Kalita, Shantaram Naik, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Ajay Sancheti and Bhupender Yadav.