Question

Which of the following parliamentary committees in India act as a ‘watch-dog’ on departmental expenditure and irregularities?
A. Public Account Committee
B. Committee on Public Undertakings
C. Estimates Committee
D. Committee of Public Assurance

Answer 1

Hint: The purpose of the committee is to audit the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India. The Parliament of India constituted this committee.

Complete answer:
The committee came up in 1921. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is a group of selected members of parliament forming a committee. This committee is constituted by the Parliament of India. The main function of the Public Accounts Committee is to check whether the money granted by parliament has been spent by the government within the scope of the demand.

The Public Accounts Committee acts as 'watch-dog'. They act as 'watch-dog' because the committee looks after the departmental expenditure and irregularities. the Parliament of India constituted the Public Accounts Committee for auditing of the revenue and the expenditure of the Government of India. This Committee is formed every year with the number of people having more than 22 members. Among these 22 people, 15 are from Lok Sabha i.e. the lower house of the Parliament and rest 7 from Rajya Sabha i.e. the upper house of the Parliament. The members are elected every year from the members of respective houses i.e. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha according to the principle of proportional representation by single transferable vote. Additionally, The Lok Sabha speaker appoints the chairperson of the committee.

Hence, the correct answer is option A.

Note:
Public Account Committee along with the Estimates committee (EC) and Committee on Public Undertakings (COPU) are the three financial standing committees of the Parliament of India.