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HYDERABAD: Barely hours after the Telangana High Court directive on disqualification petitions, the Legislature Secretary on Monday appointed Arekapudi Gandhi, who is among the 10 MLAs who defected from the BRS to the Congress recently, as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). State Legislature Secretary V Narasimha Charyulu issued a bulletin on Monday appointing chairpersons to the PAC, Estimates Committee and Public Undertakings Committee (PUC). Nalamada Padmavathi, wife of Irrigation Minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Kodad MLA, was appointed chairperson of Estimates Committee and K Shankaraiah of the PUC.
Understandably, the main Opposition BRS cried foul over the appointment of the PAC chairman which it saw as a departure from convention.
The first time a member of the Opposition was appointed the PAC chairman was in 1958–59 and the practice has continued since.
This time, the BRS proposed three names T Harish Rao, Gangula Kamalakar and Vemula Prasanth Reddy for the PAC chairman post and all of them submitted their nominations. However, the Legislature Secretary sprang a surprise by appointing Gandhi as the PAC chairman.
Convention gone for a toss, say BRS MLAs
As per the rules of the Legislature, the PAC should be constituted with 13 members nine from Assembly and four from the Council. A motion is moved in the Assembly calling upon the members to elect the members to the PAC from among themselves. After filing of the nominations, if the number of members nominated after withdrawal is more than the number of members to be elected, an election is held. Following the election, the Speaker appoints one of the 13 members of the PAC as its Chairperson. The term of the PAC is one year.
However, the practice for the last several decades is that the PAC Chairperson post is left to the Opposition and the chairman and members had been elected unanimously, eliminating the need for any election.
This time, the allegation is that neither convention nor rules were followed in appointing the PAC chairperson. Raising objections to the decision, BRS MLA and former Minister T Harish Rao accused the Congress of “murdering” the Constitution. He wondered how a defected MLA could be made the PAC chairman.
BRS working president KT Rama Rao too wondered how the Congress could give the PAC chairman post to a defected MLA. He recalled that the post was given to the Opposition in Parliament and wondered how could there be separate rules for Parliament and Assembly. He also lamented that the decision came the day the High Court gave a direction on the disqualification petitions.
Role of the PAC
The PAC scrutinises Appropriation Accounts, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports, making its role crucial. If the PAC is not satisfied with the accounts, it brings this to the notice of the Assembly.