BHUBANESWAR: The BJP legislature party on Saturday decided to request the Speaker of the Odisha Legislative Assembly to appoint the party chief whip as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). This was announced by the newly-elected leader of the legislature party Jayanarayan Mishra.
As a matter of convention, the Leader of the Opposition is nominated as the Chairman of the Committee on Public Accounts, one of the important Assembly committees which examines appropriation accounts, annual financial accounts of the State government and other accounts laid before the Assembly.
The committee also examines the annual audit reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) including the report on public undertakings. The committee has power to pass resolutions on matters of procedure for the consideration of the Speaker who may make such variations in procedure as he may consider necessary.
Mishra said he is unable to discharge the duty of PAC chairman which required frequent meetings and tours to different parts of the State. “My health is not permitting for extensive tours and long sittings in meetings. Since I cannot not give full justice to such a demanding job, I requested the legislature party to assign the job to Majhi who was a member of the committee,” Mishra told this paper.
There were many instances in the past when the PAC chairmen were other than the Leader of Opposition. Former Congress MLA Prasad Harichandan was heading PAC when Bhupinder Singh and Ramakanta Mishra were Leader of Opposition, he said. The BJP legislature party will inform the Speaker in writing about the election of Mishra as the new leader of the party in the House on Monday.