NEW DELHI: In its first meeting on Tuesday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) will take up the performance audit of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (Jal Jeevan Mission) under the Jal Shakti Ministry.
In the meeting, representatives of the ministry will brief the panel on the ‘Performance Audit on Jal Jeevan Mission’ based on a CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General) report.
This comes amid a row over reports that the parliamentary panel may call SEBI chairperson Madhabi Buch, who is facing allegations of conflict of interest, to appear before it.
The PAC headed by Congress MP K C Venugopal, is responsible for auditing the revenue and expenditure of the government. Responding to the row over the panel’s decision to include the performance review of regulators such as SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India), Venugopal said it is for the panel to take a call on whether to ask Buch to appear before it or not.
He said the committee decided to include the performance review of regulators such as SEBI and TRAI on the suggestions of its members.
Among the suo motu subjects selected by the committee are the performance review of regulatory bodies established by Acts of Parliament, reforms in the banking and insurance sector, a review of the implementation of Centrally sponsored welfare schemes, policy measures underway for transition in the energy sector and levy and regulation of fees, tariffs, user charges on public infrastructure and other public utilities.
The PAC has selected 161 subjects for examination during its tenure, in addition to the pending matters before the committee from the previous year.
Apart from PAC, other key parliamentary committees will also start meeting this week. On Monday, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) will brief members of the committee on the welfare of OBCs on the “formulation and implementation” of reservation policy for the community in the posts and services under the Central government and Union Territories.