THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday called for setting up a common digital Audit Monitoring Platform for state legislatures on the lines of the system available to parliamentary committees to ensure systematic tracking of audit observations and timely disposal of audit reports.
At the valedictory of the two-day national conference of chairpersons of Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of Parliament, and state and UT legislatures in Thiruvananthapuram, Birla stressed the need for greater technological integration to strengthen legislative oversight and accountability in public expenditure.
He said Parliament and state legislatures should jointly evolve a system of audit and evaluation to address common challenges. He also described the Keralam Resolution adopted at the meet as a guiding framework and roadmap for strengthening PACs and deepening legislative oversight.
Lok Sabha PAC chairperson K C Venugopal stressed that PACs must evolve to ensure accountability as public money moves through increasingly complex channels. He suggested that at least one PAC report be discussed in Parliament and state legislatures to bring the committees’ work closer to the public.