Thiruvananthapuram: Chairman of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) KC Venugopal on Tuesday voiced concern over the absence of chief secretaries of six states at its recent meeting and stressed the need to uphold legislative oversight over policies and schemes for citizens' welfare.
The senior Congress leader also said that there is a need for the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to increase the number of audits and focus more on the implementation of flagship programmes of the government like Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Mission and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
Addressing a conference of chairpersons of the Public Accounts Committees of Parliament and state and Union Territories legislatures, Venugopal said the meetings of the PAC must be taken with the seriousness they deserve as they are not intended to find fault but to improve policies.
"When the committee calls for evidence, it is not to find fault for its own sake -- the purpose is to improve schemes and policies, and that ultimately serves the welfare of the citizens.
"For example, in the last meeting of the committee in Parliament, none of the chief secretaries of six states attended," he said.
The PAC chairman said the top officers of the six states had been called to tender oral evidence on the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for Scheduled Caste students.
He said these scholarships support students from among the most disadvantaged sections of the society.
"The absence of the chief secretaries denied the committee the opportunity to examine the shortcomings and secure corrective action," he said.
Venugopal urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who was present at the event, to intervene in such cases so that the "authority of the committee, and through it the authority of Parliament, is duly respected".
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The inaugural session of the two-day conference was held at the Keralam Assembly and was also attended by Chief Minister VD Satheesan, among others.
Venugopal said the relationship between the PAC and the CAG is central to this process of legislative control.
He said the CAG provides the committee with independent audit findings and professional assistance, while the PAC brings the authority of the legislature to the examination of those findings.
"In this context, an increase in the resource capacity and independence of the CAG would directly impact the functioning of the PAC," he said.
The Congress leader said in recent times it is increasingly being felt that the CAG needs to increase the number of audits being done by them and focus more on implementation of flagship programmes of the government.
These include POSHAN Abhiyan, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Mission, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana as well as those schemes which have subsumed earlier schemes or been restructured such as Jal Jeevan Mission; Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin; PM Mitra etc., he said.
Moreover, Venugopal noted that a large number of audit reports were being brought out for the defence and railway sectors whereas those on Health, Home Affairs, Education and External Affairs were nearly half as many.
In the last six years, while the defence and railway sectors have around 33 and 30 CAG reports each, CAG reports on Health and External Affairs have been 14 each and seven on Education, he said.
"I feel this has to be balanced. Even sectors like textiles, tourism, MSME - all these have great potential to provide employment to our youth and need to be audited with a view to streamlining their functioning," he said.
"Justice delayed, Justice denied," Venugopal said, referring to the delay in carrying out audit. He said delay in tabling audit reports in Parliament would amount to delay in seeking accountability from the government and denial of rightful services to citizens.
"I will highlight one example. National Highway projects in Keralam have encountered repeated instances of slope failure, pavement cracking, poor drainage and water logging," he said.
The PAC chairman said the Secretary, Road Transport and Highways admitted to design failure by the Concessionaire and Independent Engineer.
Also, he said, several instances of sub-contracting were observed which led to extremely low-quality highways.
"In view of such serious lapses, in our 33rd report presented in August 2025, the Committee had recommended that CAG carry out a comprehensive performance audit of the National Highway Projects being undertaken by NHAI," he said.
Venugopal said financial scrutiny must ultimately be connected with the quality, efficiency and integrity of public administration.
